Roman Šebrle (Czech pronunciation:[ˈromanˈʃɛbr̩lɛ]; born 26 November 1974) is aCzech retired decathlete. He is considered to be one of the bestdecathlon athletes of all time. Originally ahigh jumper, he later switched to the combined events and is a former world record holder in the decathlon, holding the record for over eleven years. In 2001 inGötzis he became the first decathlete ever to achieve over 9,000 points, setting the record at 9,026 points, succeeding his compatriot,Tomáš Dvořák, who had scored 8,994 points two years earlier.
After placing second in the decathlon during the2000 Summer Olympics, Šebrle won the gold medal in the2004 Summer Olympics. Tradition dictates the winner of the decathlon holds the title of "World's Greatest Athlete".[2]
A panel of experts convened by theWall Street Journal in 2008 also ranked Šebrle as the world's greatest athlete.[3] That very same year, Šebrle finished 6th in the decathlon in theBeijing Olympics.
Šebrle was born on 26 November 1974 inLanškroun,Czechoslovakia.[1] He studied at František Martin Pelcl Gymnasium inRychnov nad Kněžnou and at Gymnasium Pardubice. Then he studied an extension course ofInformation Science andComputer Technology.[4]
On 14 October 2000 Šebrle marriedEva Kasalová,[5] a former Czech athlete who competed on the track in the400 and800 metres. Their son,Štěpán, a professional footballer, was born on 4 September 2002 and their daughter Kateřina on 30 January 2006.[6]
When Roman Šebrle was six years old, he started playingfootball, but also occasionally took part in athletics competitions. In 1987 he broke hiscalf bone andshin bone on one leg in a collision with the opponent goalkeeper during a football match. After this incident he had his leg in plaster for 2 months and spent one year learning to walk.[4]
He competed in his first decathlon competition in 1991 inTýniště nad Orlicí, reaching 5,187 points. Then he met coach Jiří Čechák who convinced him to change school fromRychnov nad Kněžnou toPardubice, where he joined the Track and Field Club in 1992. He improved his decathlon personal best to 7642 points, although he did just light training.[4]
In 1995 he started his two-year compulsorymilitary service in theCzech Armed Forces. He joined the army sports clubDukla Prague and its group of decathletes led by coachZdeněk Váňa, and has stayed a member since that time.[4] Thus he is still automatically a soldier of theCzech army, although in fact he does not take part in any military operations or, with a few exceptions,[7] in any military training.[8]
In 1996 Šebrle achieved a score of over 8,000 points for the first time, reaching 8,210 points at a meeting inPrague. His first big success came in 1997, when he won theWorld University Games inSicily and came ninth at theWorld Championships in Athens. In 1999 he was successful at theWorld Indoor Championships in Maebashi, where he won bronze in theheptathlon, and one year later at theEuropean Indoor Athletics Championships in Ghent, where he took silver.
By the end of thediscus discipline at the2000 Olympic Games inSydney, afterEstonianErki Nool was red-flagged three times by the discus judge, it seemed that Roman Šebrle was on course for the gold medal. However, the competition referee overruled the decision and Šebrle finally took silver.[9]
In March 2001 he won the first major tournament – theWorld Indoor Championships in Lisbon – and in May he shocked the world with a newworld record of 9,026 points at theHypo-Meeting inGötzis, marking the first time a decathlete has ever broken the illustrious 9,000 point barrier. However, due to an injury he couldn't do himself justice and finished a disappointed 10th in theWorld Championships in Edmonton.
Šebrle then left the Váňa's group and started to train with coachDalibor Kupka in the same club. In 2002 he won bothEuropean Indoor Championships in Vienna andEuropean Championships in Munich. In 2004 inAthens he finally won theOlympic Games, reaching 8,893 points and thus beating the 20-year-old Olympic record set by the British decathleteDaley Thompson in the1984 Olympics inLos Angeles.[10] After the victory in Athens, the Czech minister of defence promoted him to the rank ofmajor.[11]
Šebrle's bestWorld Championships results were gold in 2007 (Osaka) and silver in 2003 (Paris) and 2005 (Helsinki). He was also successful at theWorld Indoor Championships in heptathlon, taking gold in 2001 (Lisbon) and 2004 (Budapest, beating the European record with 6,438 points), and bronze in 1999 (Maebashi), 2003 (Birmingham) and 2006 (Moscow). In 2005 he won the European Indoor Championships in heptathlon (Madrid), in 2006 the European Championships in decathlon for the second time (Gothenburg) and in 2007 he got his third European indoor gold (Birmingham).[9]
The sum of his personal bests in individual disciplines is 9,326 points (the third ever best afterDan O'Brien andMike Smith).[12] He is the only decathlete who finished 40 decathlon competitions with the score over 8,000 points and 20 competitions with the score over 8,500 points (as of October 2007[update]).[13]Šebrle was also voted the Best Czech Athlete of the Year five times in a row (2002–2006),[14] and in 2004 he received the title of the Czech Sportsman of the Year.[15] In 2002 he received theGuth-Jarkovský Trophy for his world record, which is awarded by theCzech Olympic Committee for the best performance by a Czech athlete achieved during the previous year.[16]
On 22 January 2007, Šebrle was hurt by a javelin thrown by aSouth African female javelin thrower,Sunette Viljoen, from a distance of 55 metres while training inSouth Africa.[17] The javelin pierced the edge of his right shoulder from the front, 12 cm deep. Shocked, Šebrle ripped the javelin out immediately, which could have caused even more damage. It did not cause any serious injury however, because it slipped between a muscle and his skin. He was taken to a hospital, but left soon with just eleven stitches. However, he was limited in training for some time, especially in thepole vault. Later he stated that he was only 20 cm away from being killed and 1 cm from an injury that would have ended his career.[18][19]
Information fromWorld Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.[20][21][22]
| Event | Performance | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long jump | 7.87 m (25 ft9+3⁄4 in) (+1.8 m/s) | Prague | 5 June 1999 |
| 8.04 m (26 ft4+1⁄2 in) (+2.1 m/s) | Thum | 20 May 2001 | |
| High jump | 2.09 m (6 ft10+1⁄4 in) | Schleswig | 9 May 1999 |
| Pole vault | 5.20 m (17 ft1⁄2 in) | Turnov | 18 May 2003 |
| 100 metres | 10.92 (+0.6 m/s) | Linz | 2 August 2004 |
| 200 metres | 21.74 (+1.4 m/s) | Prague | 7 August 2004 |
| 300 metres | 35.12 | Prague | 13 June 2005 |
| 110 metres hurdles | 13.79 (+0.3 m/s) | Ostrava | 27 June 1999 |
| 13.68 (+2.6 m/s) | Thum | 20 May 2001 | |
| Shot put | 16.19 m (53 ft1+1⁄4 in) | Pardubice | 3 August 2006 |
| Discus throw | 49.46 m (162 ft 3 in) | Prague | 24 May 2009 |
| Javelin throw | 66.19 m (217 ft1+3⁄4 in) | Villeneuve d'Ascq | 8 June 2007 |
| Event | Performance | Location | Date | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decathlon | — | Götzis | 26–26 May 2001 | 9,026 points |
| 100 meters | 10.64 (+1.3 m/s) | Götzis | 3 June 2000 | 942 points |
| Long jump | 8.11 m (26 ft7+1⁄4 in) (+1.9 m/s) | Götzis | 26 May 2001 | 1,089 points |
| Shot put | 16.47 m (54 ft1⁄4 in) | Kladno | 20 June 2007 | 880 points |
| High jump | 2.15 m (7 ft1⁄2 in) | Götzis | 3 June 2000 | 944 points |
| 400 meters | 47.76 | Götzis | 29 May 1999 | 921 points |
| 110 meters hurdles | 13.87 (-1.4 m/s) | Sydney | 28 September 2000 | 991 points |
| Discus throw | 49.12 m (161 ft1+3⁄4 in) | Arles | 4 June 2006 | 852 points |
| Pole vault | 5.10 m (16 ft8+3⁄4 in) | Munich | 8 August 2002 | 941 points |
| Javelin throw | 71.18 m (233 ft6+1⁄4 in) | Osaka | 1 September 2007 | 907 points |
| 1500 meters | 4:21.98 | Götzis | 27 May 2001 | 798 points |
| Virtual Best Performance | 9,265 points | |||
| Event | Performance | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long jump | 7.88 m (25 ft 10 in) | Prague | 13 February 2000 |
| High jump | 2.10 m (6 ft10+1⁄2 in) | Prague | 15 February 1997 |
| Pole vault | 5.00 m (16 ft4+3⁄4 in) | Prague | 21 February 2004 |
| 60 metres | 7.01 | Chemnitz | 22 February 2002 |
| 200 metres | 22.78 | Belfast | 18 February 2007 |
| 50 metres hurdles | 6.79 | Reykjavík | 24 January 1999 |
| 60 metres hurdles | 7.84 | Prague | 12 February 2000 |
| Shot put | 15.96 m (52 ft4+1⁄4 in) | Germiston | 25 January 2002 |
| Event | Performance | Location | Date | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heptathlon | — | Budapest | 6–7 March 2004 | 6,438 points |
| 60 meters | 6.91 | Tallinn | 6 February 1999 | 915 points |
| Long jump | 7.97 m (26 ft1+3⁄4 in) | Tallinn | 29 January 2000 | 1,053 points |
| Shot put | 16.28 m (53 ft4+3⁄4 in) | Budapest | 6 March 2004 | 869 points |
| High jump | 2.13 m (6 ft11+3⁄4 in) | Tallinn | 6 February 1999 | 925 points |
| 60 meters hurdles | 7.86 | Lisbon | 11 March 2001 | 1,017 points |
| Pole vault | 5.05 m (16 ft6+3⁄4 in) | Tallinn | 8 February 2004 | 926 points |
| 1000 meters | 2:37.86 | Lisbon | 11 March 2001 | 897 points |
| Virtual Best Performance | 6,602 points | |||
| Year | Competition | Place | Discipline | Points | Note | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | World Championships | Athens | Decathlon | 8232 | 9 | [23] | |
| 1997 | Universiade | Catania | Decathlon | 8380 | 1 | [24] | |
| 1998 | European Indoor Championships | Valencia | Heptathlon | – | DNF | [22] | |
| 1998 | European Championships | Budapest | Decathlon | 8477 | 6 | [25] | |
| 1999 | World Indoor Championships | Maebashi | Heptathlon | 6319 | 3 | [26] | |
| 1999 | World Championships | Seville | Decathlon | – | DNF | [22] | |
| 2000 | European Indoor Championships | Ghent | Heptathlon | 6271 | 2 | [27] | |
| 2000 | Olympic Games | Sydney | Decathlon | 8606 | 2 | [28] | |
| 2001 | World Indoor Championships | Lisbon | Heptathlon | 6420 | 1 | [29] | |
| 2001 | World Championships | Edmonton | Decathlon | 8174 | 10 | [30] | |
| 2002 | European Indoor Championships | Vienna | Heptathlon | 6280 | 1 | [31] | |
| 2002 | European Championships | Munich | Decathlon | 8800 | 1 | [32] | |
| 2003 | World Indoor Championships | Birmingham | Heptathlon | 6196 | 3 | [33] | |
| 2003 | World Championships | Paris | Decathlon | 8634 | 2 | [34] | |
| 2004 | World Indoor Championships | Budapest | Heptathlon | 6438 | ER | 1 | [35] |
| 2004 | Olympic Games | Athens | Decathlon | 8893 | OR | 1 | [36] |
| 2005 | European Indoor Championships | Madrid | Heptathlon | 6232 | 1 | [37] | |
| 2005 | World Championships | Helsinki | Decathlon | 8521 | 2 | [38] | |
| 2006 | World Indoor Championships | Moscow | Heptathlon | 6161 | 3 | [39] | |
| 2006 | European Championships | Gothenburg | Decathlon | 8526 | 1 | [40] | |
| 2007 | European Indoor Championships | Birmingham | Heptathlon | 6196 | 1 | [41] | |
| 2007 | World Championships | Osaka | Decathlon | 8676 | 1 | [42] | |
| 2008 | World Indoor Championships | Valencia | Heptathlon | – | DNF | [43] | |
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing | Decathlon | 8241 | 6 | [44] | |
| 2009 | World Championships | Berlin | Decathlon | 8266 | 11 | [45] | |
| 2011 | European Indoor Championships | Paris | Heptathlon | 6178 | 3 | [46] | |
| 2011 | World Championships | Daegu | Decathlon | 8069 | 14 | [47] | |
| 2012 | Olympic Games | London | Decathlon | – | DNF |
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Men's decathlon world record holder 27 May 2001 – 23 June 2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Men's decathlon European record holder 27 May 2001 – 16 September 2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Men's heptathlon European record holder 7 March 2004 – 5 March 2017 | Succeeded by |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by | Czech Athlete of the Year 2004 | Succeeded by |
| All-around | |
|---|---|
| Pentathlon |
|
| Decathlon |
|
|
World Indoor Champions in men'sheptathlon | |
|---|---|
|
European Athletics Championships champions in men'sdecathlon | |
|---|---|
|
|
World University Games champions in men'sdecathlon | |
|---|---|
| |
† 1959 was contested as a pentathlon |
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
