 Clay in 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1980-01-03)January 3, 1980 (age 45) Austin, Texas, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personalbest(s) | Decathlon: 8,832 pts (2008) Heptathlon: 6,371 pts (2008) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay (Japanese:石井 積,Ishii Tsumoru, born January 3, 1980) is an Americandecathlete who was the2008 Summer Olympic champion for thedecathlon and was alsoWorld champion in 2005.
Clay was born inAustin, Texas[2] and raised inHawaii. He isAfro-Asian. His mother, Michele Ishimoto, was aJapanese immigrant to America. His father, Greg Clay, wasAfrican-American.[3] His parents divorced when he was in elementary school and he was raised primarily by his mother. He has a younger brother, Nikolas, who was also a standout athlete on theAzusa Pacific University track team. Clay graduated fromJames B. Castle High School (Kaneohe, Hawaii) in 1998.
On March 23, 2013, Clay was inducted into the Azusa Pacific Hall of Fame in track and field.[4]
Clay is married to Sarah Smith. They have a son, Jacob (born 2005) and two daughters, Katherine (Kate) (born 2007) and Elizabeth (Ellie) (born 2010).[5]
Clay is a devoted Christian. He believes that a balance of mental, physical and emotional health will help him in athletic competition.[5]
He competed in track and field in high school, during which time he was coached by Dacre Bowen and Martin Hee. He then attendedAzusa Pacific University, anEvangelical Christian college nearLos Angeles, California, where he competed in theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and was coached byMike Barnett, who still coaches him. Clay still trains at Azusa Pacific University. Clay decided to compete in the decathlon after persuasion from OlympianChris Huffins.[2]
Clay won the silver medal at the2004 Olympics, and finished first at the2005 World Championships. He was unable to complete the2007 World Championships due to injuries, dropping out after four events in which he claimed the competition's best scores in the 100 metres and the long jump.[6]
Clay won the gold medal at the2008 Olympics in the decathlon.[7][8] His victory margin of 240 points in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the largest since 1972.[9] The Olympic decathlon champion is referred to as the "World's Greatest Athlete" and prior to the Olympics, Clay was tested bySPARQ to establish his SPARQ Rating across a number of different sports. The test is meant to measure sport-specific athleticism and in the football test Clay recorded a score of 130.40, the highest ever recorded up to that point. By comparison,Reggie Bush scored a 93.38 on the popular test.[10]
He is one of two Olympians featured on a special edition post-Beijing OlympicsWheaties cereal box; the other wasgymnastNastia Liukin.[11]
His attempts to regain his World Championships decathlon title were thwarted by a hamstring injury in June 2009. This caused him to drop out of the US trials; thus, he missed the chance to compete at the2009 World Championships inBerlin.[12] He returned to action in 2010 and won the men's heptathlon at the2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. At the start of his outdoor season he won the2010 Hypo-Meeting, holding off the challenge fromRomain Barras.[13]
In 2012, Clay had returned to theOlympic Trials in hopes of making a third Olympics and defending his title. Defending the title was a feat only achieved twice, byBob Mathias and byDaley Thompson. That attempt was quashed at the beginning of the second day, when he tripped over the 9th hurdle in the110 metres hurdles, then off balance pushed over the tenth hurdle. He was initially disqualified for pushing over the hurdle, but that decision was reversed, allowing him a mark for running 16.81 s, last in the field and over 1.5 s slower than the next best competitor.[14] Thinking he had been disqualified in the hurdles, Clay followed the hurdle accident with three straight fouls in the discus throws, but he still completed the competition.
Outdoor
| Event | Performance | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres | 10.39(+1.9 m/s) | Azusa | April 10, 2004 |
| 10.38(+2.3 m/s) | São Paulo | May 22, 2008 | |
| 200 metres | 21.34(−0.7 m/s) | Azusa | April 9, 2005 |
| 400 metres | 47.28 | Tampa | May 16, 1998 |
| 110 metres hurdles | 13.64(−0.3 m/s) | Los Angeles | May 8, 2010 |
| Long jump | 7.81 m (25 ft7+1⁄4 in)(+1.5 m/s) | Carson | June 1, 2003 |
| 8.06 m (26 ft5+1⁄4 in)(+4.5 m/s) | Chula Vista | June 6, 2004 | |
| High jump | 1.95 m (6 ft4+3⁄4 in) | Kingston | May 7, 2005 |
| Pole vault | 4.85 m (15 ft10+3⁄4 in) | Azusa | April 8, 2006 |
| Shot put | 15.45 m (50 ft8+1⁄4 in) | La Jolla | June 17, 2004 |
| Discus throw | 55.06 m (180 ft7+1⁄2 in) | Carson | May 18, 2008 |
| Javelin throw | 71.64 m (235 ft1⁄4 in) | Claremont | April 7, 2007 |
| Event | Performance | Location | Date | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decathlon | — | Eugene | June 29–30, 2008 | 8,832 points |
| 100 meters | 10.27(+0.2 m/s) | Götzis | May 29, 2010 | 1,011 points |
| Long jump | 7.96 m (26 ft1+1⁄4 in)(+0.2 m/s) | Athens | August 23, 2004 | 1,076 points |
| Shot put | 16.27 m (53 ft4+1⁄2 in) | Beijing | August 21, 2008 | 868 points |
| High jump | 2.09 m (6 ft10+1⁄4 in) | Götzis | May 26, 2007 | 887 points |
| 400 meters | 47.85 | Palo Alto | June 21, 2003 | 916 points |
| 110 meters hurdles | 13.74(+1.3 m/s) | Götzis | May 28, 2006 | 1,008 points |
| Discus throw | 55.87 m (183 ft3+1⁄2 in) | Carson | June 24, 2005 | 993 points |
| Pole vault | 5.10 m (16 ft8+3⁄4 in) | Sacramento | July 17, 2004 | 941 points |
| Javelin throw | 72.00 m (236 ft2+1⁄2 in) | Helsinki | August 10, 2005 | 920 points |
| 1500 meters | 4:38.93 | Eugene | June 22, 2001 | 687 points |
| Virtual Best Performance | 9,300 points | |||
Indoor
| Event | Performance | Location | Date | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 meters | 21.34 | Azusa | February 17, 2001 | |
| Shot put | 15.24 m (50 ft 0 in) | New York City | January 28, 2011 | [15] |
| Event | Performance | Location | Date | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heptathlon | — | Valencia | March 8–9, 2008 | 6,371 points |
| 60 meters | 6.65 | Budapest | March 6, 2004 | 1,010 points |
| Long jump | 7.74 m (25 ft4+1⁄2 in) | Moscow | March 11, 2006 | 995 points |
| Shot put | 16.21 m (53 ft 2 in) | Valencia | March 8, 2008 | 864 points |
| High jump | 2.10 m (6 ft10+1⁄2 in) | Moscow | March 11, 2006 | 896 points |
| 60 meters hurdles | 7.77 | Albuquerque | February 27, 2010 | 1,040 points |
| Pole vault | 5.10 m (16 ft8+3⁄4 in) | Ames | February 15, 2008 | 957 points |
| 1000 meters | 2:49.41 | Budapest | March 7, 2004 | 772 points |
| Virtual Best Performance | 6,534 points | |||
Clay spoke at the Republican National Convention in2008.[16]
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