A decathlon is a contest of ten separate athletic events. Win the decathlon, the decathlon score, compete in the decathlon.
It runs over two days, and the winner is traditionally called the world's greatest athlete because no event can be neglected. Points are awarded by formula for each performance, so the athletes are never directly racing each other for the title.
1noundecathlonA contest of ten separate athletic events.
“In the decathlon, athletes run, jump and throw over two long days.”
decathlon is a contest.
Greek deka, ten, plus athlon, a contest, coined for the 1912 Olympic Games on the model of pentathlon.
From dec- + -athlon, coined for the 1912 Summer Olympics in analogy to the word pentathlon.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA