After decades of being excluded from the Olympic decathlon, women athletes are rallying behind a fast-growing push to gain full access to the sport’s most demanding event. The movement has drawn support from both elite competitors and young athletes just beginning their careers.
“I was inspired to join advocacy partly because I wanted to compete pole vault, and partly because I think women can do the same things as men,” senior and student decathlete Katie Cueva said.
Women are allowed to compete in all the individual events making up the decathlon: 100m sprint, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m sprint, 100m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500m run. However, in the Olympics, women are still restricted to the seven-event heptathlon, which differs from the men’s decathlon in structure, distance, and prestige. Heptathletes run 200m and 800m races while decathletes run 400m and 1500m.
The decathlon’s ten events, especially the discus throw and pole vault, have historically been framed as too demanding for women, which has long been disproven by athletes but is still embedded in Olympic policy. For decades, this exclusion has fueled criticism of gender inequality and blocked women from earning the title reserved for male decathletes: “the world’s greatest athlete.”
Starting in recent years, a major movement has emerged to change that. Led by pole vaulter and advocate Lauren Kuntz, founder of the nonprofit Ico For All, the movement is dedicated to establishing the women’s decathlon on the world stage and ultimately securing its inclusion in the Olympics.
Kuntz was first inspired to launch the movement while coaching as a graduate student. “I was coaching a meet, helping one of my biggest athletes stay mentally in the game, and I suddenly thought, Man, I really want to do this,” she said. “Then it hit me, why can I coach an event I’m not allowed to compete in? It was a light switch for me.”
Pushes for women’s decathlon date back to the 2000 Olympics, when women were finally allowed to compete in pole vault, sparking hopes that a women’s decathlon event would soon follow. However, momentum faded due to limited opportunities and fragmented advocacy. Efforts resurfaced only in scattered pockets such as small groups, individual athletes, and local organizers trying to keep the event alive.
That began to change with the creation of the Women’s Decathlon World Championships, launched and organized by Kuntz’s nonprofit. The event, although not recognized by World Athletics, has quickly become the first global hub for female decathletes. It features both open divisions for athletes of all levels and all ages and elite divisions targeted at athletes who meet a certain qualification standard. Participation has steadily grown, with seven countries represented in the competition last year and thirteen the year before.
To build the field, Kuntz relies heavily on personal outreach. “A lot of it is word of mouth, or messaging athletes directly,” she said. “I look on world ranking lists for pole vaulters and send them a DM on Instagram.” She has sent hundreds of messages to promising athletes, especially women at a point in life where training for ten events is feasible, inviting them to compete and join the movement.
Her organization has also worked to increase visibility through media partnerships, including a distribution deal with the All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN) on Amazon Prime and Pluto TV. “The broadcast will be available in like 60-70% of U.S. households,” Kuntz said.
But organizing a world championship and making it a nominal athlete experience on a grassroots budget requires creativity. The team helps international athletes navigate travel, access training facilities before competition, and feel supported from arrival to closing ceremonies. This year, they partnered with a New Zealand decathlete company to design custom uniforms, adding a professional touch despite limited resources.
Sponsorship for the movement is still developing. “We tend to have the most success with mission-aligned companies focused on women in sports,” Kuntz said. “Brands that see the value of the story we’re telling aligns with the story they try to tell around their products.”
Some of the biggest hurdles Kuntz and the organization face are securing facilities and dealing with the minutiae of event organization. Securing a facility willing to host a multi-day international meet was surprisingly difficult at first. “Some universities are just not used to that,” Kuntz said. The team eventually found a partner in SPIRE Institute, whose business model includes hosting large sporting events.
Without official backing from World Athletics, Kuntz hires USA Track & Field officials to ensure compliance with record-setting standards, which is essential if women’s decathlon is ever to be recognized formally.
The roadblock at the top levels is largely strategic and financial. World Athletics has long viewed the women’s combined events as much of an “either-or” situation: either the heptathlon or the decathlon, but not both. They also view the decathlon as less cost-effective than the heptathlon. “They say it’s more events, more time, and more cost,” Kuntz said. “They acknowledge it’s unequal and that women are capable of it, but they don’t see it as a good return on the investment.”
Still, Kuntz’s team is making progress and recently addressed the Athletes’ Commission within World Athletics. They also stay in close contact with key individuals within World Athletics, receiving regular feedback and concerns about the combined events and the challenges they’re facing. Internationally, France stands as the strongest example of success in gaining recognition for women’s decathlon. It is the only country whose federation officially hosts a national women’s decathlon championship, allowing French athletes to compete in both the heptathlon and the decathlon.
For Kuntz, what keeps her going is the athletes themselves. “I adore all of them. Just getting to cheer them on and creating a space I didn’t have is beyond rewarding,” she said. Her message to young athletes is just to try it. “Ten events can look intimidating on paper, but it’s incredibly fun. You constantly have an area that you can improve.”
