Two Time Olympic decathlon champion and Mt View High School Alumni Ashton Eaton has retired from track and field.
Along with his gold medals in 2012 in London, and in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Eaton also won gold the Track and Field World Championships in 2013 and 2015, and a silver in 2011. In the World Indoor Championships, Eaton took home the gold in the heptathlon in 2012, 2014, and last year in Portland
In a statement on Twitter, the 28 year old Eaton said “I give everything to the decathlon. I did all I could. Thank u for making it the best time of my life. I’m retiring.”
I give everything to the decathlon. I did all I could. Thank u for making it the best time of my life. I’m retiring. https://t.co/x6kPMp9Jxz
— Ashton Eaton (@AshtonJEaton) January 4, 2017
Eaton was a member of the Cougar’s class of 2006 and in 2015 Mt View unveiled their new Ashton Eaton tack at Jack Harris Stadium, complete with his signature right on the tack itself.
Eaton and his wife Brianne Theisen-Eaton, a champion in her own right with Silver medals at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, as well as at the 2014 World Indoor Championships, both have hung up their cleats, with her announcing her retirement on the same day.
Eaton said it was time for both of them to move on.
“It’s my time to depart from athletics; to do something new,” Eaton wrote in a post on their website. “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. And I think that’s inspiring.”
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