Ready For Prime Time Dan O’Brien To Finish All 10 Events In 1 Hour On Espn’s Made-For-TV Decathlon

Many consider the decathlon - and its 10 doses of pain spread across two days - as the ultimate test of an athlete.

But Dan O’Brien is going to put the whole thing in a microwave and see how well he can do in just 1 hour.

O’Brien, the decathlon world record holder and three-time world champ, will host two other challengers at Pullman on Sept. 8 in a 60-minute decathlon to be televised live on ESPN.

A spokesman at the office of O’Brien’s attorney, Brad Hunt, confirmed that the event will take place and that a press conference to announce it is scheduled for early next week.

Tentatively scheduled to compete are Robert Zmelik of the Czech Republic, gold medalist in the 1992 Olympics, and Christian Plaziat of France, who holds the record for most 8,000-point decathlons (29).

“It’s going to be entertainment as much as track and field; it’s going to be a circus,” said Rick Sloan, Washington State track coach, and also one of O’Brien’s coaches.

The format, as outlined by Sloan, could resemble a real fire drill.

The athletes will compete against each other in the four running events at designated times, “but the six field events will be random,” Sloan said.

“After the 100, you can do anything you want - guys will start scrambling. And, you can go back to events if you have some time left as long as you haven’t missed three consecutive times in the pole vault and high jump, or used three attempts in the long jump, shot put, javelin and discus.”

The telecast is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.

One-hour decathlons have been attempted before, with Zmelik holding the record, Sloan said. But no one has ever broken 8,000 points, “which I’m pretty sure Dan can do.”

O’Brien, a Moscow, Idaho, resident, will then leave on Sunday to compete in the DecaStar meet in Talence, France, on Sept. 14 and 15.

Sloan, who coaches O’Brien along with Idaho men’s track coach Mike Keller, said he doesn’t think the 1-hour event will be tougher on O’Brien than the regular training regimen he would face in preparation for the Talence meet.

And, he said, the event at Washington State’s Mooberry Track is good exposure for track and field. “We’re going to try to get as many people out there as we can to watch this and get them fired up about it,” Sloan said. “We’re going to have a lot of high-energy music and get people rhythmically clapping for the athletes.”

O’Brien set the decathlon world record at Talence in 1992 with a total of 8,891.

Sloan is not certain if admission will be charged.

“There may be a nominal charge,” Sloan said. “I thought that it might be best to let everyone in free so we can get a good crowd for TV, but others seem to think that if you let people in free, they think there’s no value to it.”

The event might cause a few logistical problems for TV crews.

“They’re doing a dry run with three other athletes the day before just to see how they’re going to go about it,” Sloan said.

Sets of officials must also be on hand at all times at all pits and rings. If there is an admission, it will be worth whatever price to see what happens when one athlete tries to throw the javelin while another tosses the discus, since the landing areas overlap.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo