Episcopal alum Garrett Scantling finished in fourth place in the decathlon at the Olympics in Tokyo, narrowly missing a bronze medal.
Scantling was near the top of most of the events on the final day of the competition. HIs pole vault of 5.10 meters (16 feet 8 1/2 inches) was tied for the fourth-best among the competitors. His javelin throw of 69.10 meters (226 feet 8 1/2 inches) was his season’s best, and the third-best throw of the competition.
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In the final event of the competition, Scantling ran a personal best 4:35.54 in the 1500 meters but it was not enough to overtake Australia’s Ashley Moloney for the bronze medal. Moloney ran his personal best time in the 1500 to remain in third place.
Earlier in the competition, the former Episcopal star used one of his best 400 meter runs to get himself into 6th place overall.
Then in the 100 meter hurdles, Scantling ran 14.03, the second-best time in his heat, behind only Damian Warner, who ran the fastest time in the history of the Olympic Decathlon. That moved him up to fifth overall and within shouting distance of the top three.
In the discus, his top throw of 45.46 meters kept him in the top five.
Scantling knows the feeling of just missing out. Five years ago, he placed fourth in the U.S. Olympic trials, one spot out of the team. He retired from the sport and tried his hand at football, then the world of finance before returning to make a run at the Olympics once again. At the Trials in July, Scantling won his way onto the team. His tenacity and drive were evident throughout the competition in Tokyo, as was his ability.
How close did Scantling come to a medal? He needed 30 more points to surpass Moloney. Decathlon is a game of inches and seconds when it comes to scoring, but Scantling would have needed to, for instance, vault 10 centimeters (3.93 inches) higher in the pole vault, or any number of other permutations to close the gap. That kind of “what if” can drive a decathlete mad just thinking about it.
Scantling shouldn’t hang his head over his performance. The former Georgia Bulldog set personal bests in both the 400 meters and the 1500 meters at the Games and set a season’s best in the javelin.
Canada’s Damien Warner took gold, while France’s Kevin Mayer took Bronze.