by Alfonz Juck
Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton, Millrose 2015, photo by PhotoRun.net
Eatons bye-bye
EUGENE (USA): Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton have jointly announced their retirement from athletics on their official website. Eaton is unbeaten in multi-event competitions since the 2011 World Championships and has won two Olympic and five world titles indoors and outdoors in that period as well as breaking the world heptathlon (6645p) and decathlon (9045p) records. “Frankly there isn’t much more I want to do in sport. I gave the most physically robust years of my life to the discovery and pursuit of my limits in this domain. Did I reach them? Truthfully I’m not sure anyone really does. It seems like we tend to run out of time or will before we run out of potential. That makes humanity limitless then, as far as I’m concerned,” he said. Theisen-Eaton has won medals at the last five major championships dating back to the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and improved the Canadian heptathlon record to 6808 with victory in Gotzis in 2015. She also won the world indoor title in Portland last March before claiming bronze in the heptathlon in Rio. “I no longer have the passion for track and field or the heptathlon that I used to because I know I can’t advance any further in the sport; I’ve given it all I can, and I refuse to come back and half-ass it because I love and respect this event and sport too much,” said Theisen-Eaton. That also means Eaton´s wild card will remain unused in London in summer.
