American Ashton Eaton equalled the Olympic record when retaining his decathlon crown on Thursday, but he was pushed all the way by France’s Kevin Mayer.
Eaton amassed 8,893 points in the gruelling 10-discipline event to tie the Czech Republic’s Roman Sebrle record set at the 2004 Athens Games.
The American joined an elite pantheon of decathlon greats who have won back-to-back Olympic golds, Bob Mathias (1948, 1952) and Daley Thompson (1980, 1984) the other two to have achieved the feat.
“I was ready to run myself into the hospital tonight,” said Eaton.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t an easy walk through.
“The young Frenchman, Kevin Mayer, was there to push me to the test and I think I passed the test. I’m glad he was there.”
Eaton added: “Decathlon is an exclusive company. I’m just happy to be part of the decathlon family regardless of the records.
“Bob Mathias and Daley Thompson, those guys are awesome and to be in company of two-time medallists is great.
“I was not aware of Daley when I was growing up,” he added, refusing to disclose whether he was thinking of going for third gold at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
Eaton hinted that the run-in to the Rio Games had been tougher than that of the London Olympics.
“The second time around, it so far feels about the same,” he said of his second Olympic gold.
“I would say that the lead up was quite a bit more difficult these last four years.”
Eaton’s victory extended his remarkable unbeaten streak in combined events competition that stretches back to his triumph in London in 2012.
Mayer won silver with a French record of 8,834pts, Canada’s Damian Warner taking bronze (8,666).
But it all came down to the final event, the 1500m, with Mayer in for a chance of victory himself, albeit a slim one.
The Frenchman, winning his country’s first decathlon medal since 1948, needed to beat Eaton by seven seconds.
But Eaton moved past Mayer with 200 metres of the 1500m to go to make sure of the win.
“Ashton is a real example for decathlon. To be so close to him, well I hope that in the world championships next year it’ll be a close battle!” said Mayer.
Eaton had at one stage been on target to better his own world record or at least a 9,000+ score, but just faded away.
His racked up bests of 10.46sec in the 100m, 7.84m in the long jump, 14.74m in the shot put, 2.01m in the high jump, 46.07sec in the 400m, 13.58sec in the 110m hurdles, 45.49m in the discus, 5.20m in the pole vault, 59.77m in the javelin before clocking 4:23.33 in the 1500m.