Thompson accepts

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 42

Thompson accepts

PA Auckland The Olympic decathlon champion, Daley Thompson, will compete in Christchurch this summer. Thompson is the first of the 25 overseas stars to accept an invitation to compete in the five-nation Pacific Conference Games in Christchurch on January 31 and February 1. The talented British allrounder has also. indicated he will compete in the twoday international athletic meeting in* Auckland on January 24 and 25., There is no decathlon scheduled for the Auckland

meeting, but Thompson is good enough to compete with the best in a wide variety of events such as the 100 m, the 400 m, the long jump, high jump, pole vault and 110 m hurdles. In May this year, Thompson, who is. 22,• raised the world decathlon record to 8622 points. This was broken less than a month later by West Germany’s Guido Kratschmer, who scored 8649 points. Thompson won the Olympic decathlon gold medal in Moscow, with 8495 points, but Kratschmer missed the Games because of his country’s boycott.