The two-time Olympic gold medalist from Bend leaves as the greatest decathlete ever

Published by Mark Morical/The Bulletin on January 4th, 2017

He is only 28 years old, but Ashton Eaton is leaving his sport on his terms.

And he is leaving as the greatest decathlete the world has ever known.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist from Central Oregon, Eaton announced Wednesday that he is retiring from the sport of track and field.

Eaton most recently claimed the gold medal in the decathlon at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

A graduate of Bend’s Mountain View High School and the University of Oregon, Eaton is also a two-time world champion and the world-record holder in the decathlon.

“A majority of (the decision to retire) was I didn’t really have any passion to do the same thing,” Eaton told The Bulletin on Wednesday. “I checked all the boxes I had wanted to. I had some physical things. Last year I had injuries which I never had before. I didn’t want to have to leave the sport like that. I wanted to leave the sport on my terms, rather than on the terms of some injury, some loss, or some failure.”