Jordan Gray wants to bring a women’s decathlon to the Olympics. Even if it happens long after she is able to compete in the event.
“The goal is 2024,” Gray, a 25-year-old Georgia native and the U.S. record-holder in the women’s decathlon, said recently by telephone. Her movement — Let Women Decathlon — is nearing 20,000 petition signatures in favor of adding the event to the Olympic Games in the name of gender equality in track and field, and it is gaining the support of Olympics icons who broke similar barriers decades ago.
For now, Gray and her peers are able to compete for Olympic berths only in the seven-event heptathlon, while the decathlon is restricted to men.