Ashton Eaton

In 2013 Ashton Eaton married his University of Oregon teammate, Canadian multi-event athlete Brianne Theisen who he had first met in 2006.

His wife is a heptathlon silver medalist from the 2013 World Championships and 2015 World Championships. She also won a silver medal in pentathlon at the 2014 World Indoor Championships and the bronze in the heptathlon at the 2016 Olympics.

Ashton James Eaton was born on January 21, 1988, in Portland, Oregon, United States as the only child of Roslyn Eaton and Terrance Wilson. His father is African-American, and his mother is Caucasian. His maternal grandfather, as well as his father played football. His mother was an athlete and a dancer.

His parents separated when he was a toddler and he was raised by his single mother. Inheriting his family’s penchant for sports, he started competing in football, basketball, running, soccer, and wrestling as a school boy.

He attended Mountain View High School and was coached by Tate Metcalf and John Nosler in track and field. In 2006, he won the state high school 400 m championship in 48.69 seconds and the long jump championship with a leap of 7.3216 m.

By the time he graduated from high school he had developed a strong interest in decathlon and chose the University of Oregon which granted him a partial decathlon scholarship.

At Oregon, Ashton Eaton was initially coached by Dan Steele, the associate director of track and a former decathlete under whose guidance the young man greatly improved his performance in the 1500 m, high jump, hurdles, and pole vault.

In 2008, Eaton won the decathlon at the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship, and successfully defended his title the next year. He also won the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships in 2009 and 2010.

In 2010, he won his third consecutive NCAA decathlon title, becoming the first male athlete to win three consecutive titles in the event.

By 2010, he had become a world indoor heptathlon record holder, with a top score of 6,645. The following year, he won a silver medal in the decathlon at the IAAF world championships, his first international medal.

In 2011 he also reached the first position in the decathlon at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a score of 8,729.

Ashton Eaton is just the third man in the Olympic history to win the Olympic gold twice in decathlon. He won it in 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics.

In 2010, he won the Bowerman award, an annual track and field award that is the highest accolade given to the year's best student-athlete in American collegiate track and field.

He received the men's Jesse Owens Award in 2012.

In 2015 he was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year and Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year.