Why Women Can’t Compete in Olympic Decathlon

Why aren’t women allowed to compete in a decathlon at the Olympics? Double decathlon world champion Lauren Kuntz explains how the decathlon is one of the only Olympic events that women are still not allowed to compete in. This decision is based on outdated misinformation that women don’t have the strength to do certain decathlon events, such as pole vaulting. But women are now allowed to compete in pole vaulting, as well as all of the other individual events that make up the decathlon. Women are now competing in decathlons outside the Olympics to build the data needed to show that they can, in fact, compete in an Olympic decathlon.