WORKING MATHEMATICALLY #43

Roman Sebrle

Roman Šebrle (born November 26, 1974) is an athlete from the Czech
Republic. Originally a high jumper, he competes in decathlon and 1.
heptathlon. He is a world record holder in decathlon - in 2001 in
Götzis he became the first decathlete ever to achieve over 9,000
points, setting the record at 9,026 points. He won the world
championships in 2007 at Osaka, Japan.
Using the “Official Decathlon Points Formula” on the next page, calculate how
many points Seberle scored at the 2007 World Championships if his results
were:

100m Long Jump Shot Put High Jump 400m Hurdle Discus Pole Vault Javelin 1500m
s
11.04 7.56 15.92 2.12 48.80 14.33 48.75 4.80 71.18 4:35.32

2. Explain why the constants A, B and C for each event have been chosen.
Why is “B - P” used for running events and “P - B” for field events?

3. Use the table of “Roman Sebrle’s Personal Bests” to calculate what

percentage of the World Records he has achieved in each event. Rank his 10
decathlon events from best to worst. Which event does Sebrle have to
improve in the most?

4. What decathlon score would all the World Records total?

5. Devise a new scoring system for the decathlon and justify the fairness of
your system.

On 22 January 2007, Šebrle was injured by a javelin thrown by a female javelin thrower from a distance of
55 metres while training in South Africa. The javelin pierced the edge of his right shoulder from the
front, 12 cm deep. Shocked, Šebrle ripped the javelin out immediately, which could have caused even more
damage. Luckily for him, it did not cause any serious injury, because it slipped between a muscle and his
skin. He was taken to a hospital, but left soon with just eleven stitches. However, he was limited in training
for some time, especially in the pole vault. Later he stated that he was only 20 cm away from being killed
and 1 cm from an injury that would have ended his career. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
 Official Decathlon Points Formula

The formula follows the following format:

• Points = A*(B-P)C for Running Events

• Points = A*(P-B)C for Field Events

where P is your performance in the units

described below and A, B, and C are constants.

Event A B C P
100 m 25.437 18.0 1.81 sec
Long Jump 0.14354 220 1.40 cm
Shot Put 51.39 1.5 1.05 m
High Jump 0.8465 75 1.42 cm
400 m 1.53775 82 1.81 sec
110 m Hurdles 5.74352 28.5 1.92 sec
Discus Throw 12.91 4.0 1.1 m
Pole Vault 0.2797 100 1.35 cm
Javelin Throw 10.14 7.0 1.08 m
1500 m 0.03768 480 1.85 sec

Roman Sebrle’s Personal Bests

Event Year Performanc World Record Name Country

e
100m 200 10.64 sec 9.74 sec Asafa Powell JAM
0
Long Jump 2001 8.11 m 8.95 m Mike Powell USA
Shot Put 200 16.47 m 23.12 m Randy Barnes USA
7
High Jump 200 2.15 m 2.45 m Javier Sotomayor CUB
0
400m 1999 47.76 sec 43.18 sec Michael Johnson USA
110m Hurdles 2001 13.68 sec 12.91 sec Colin Jackson USA
Discus 200 49.37 m 74.08 m Jurgen Schult GER
3
Pole Vault 200 5.20 m 6.15 m Sergey Bubka UKR
3
Javelin 200 71.18 m 98.48 m Jan Zelezny CZE
 7
1500m 2001 4:21.98 min 3:26.00 min Hicham El Guerrouj MAR