Track and Field’s golden couple, Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton have announced their retirement from the sport with immediate effect.
The pair, who competes in the combined events, announced on Wednesday, 4th January, that they are calling it quits on their Athletics careers. In his valedictory speech on the couple’s website www.weareeaton.com, Ashton, the World Record (WR) holder in the Decathlon said:
“It’s my time to depart from Athletics; to do something new. Frankly there isn’t much more I want to do in sport. I gave the most physically robust years of my life to the discovery and pursuit of my limits in this domain.
“Did I reach them? Truthfully I’m not sure anyone really does. It seems like we tend to run out of time or will before we run out of potential. That makes humanity limitless then, as far as I’m concerned. And I think that’s inspiring.”
Brianne, who competes in the Heptathlon and women’s Pentathlon, said: “I gave the last 4 years everything I could. I put my life on hold. Track and Field was the priority before everything else: my family, my friends, my marriage, my future. This is something I chose to do and I don’t regret it for a second. It made me happy to pursue something I was so passionate about.
“But I’ve done it. I went after what I set out to do and whether I achieved it or fell short is not the point. The point is that I know deep down that I gave it every ounce of energy I had and that if I went back and did it all over again, I would not change a thing; I could not have done anything better. Isn’t this the point of sport? Isn’t this the point of challenging yourself to something? To do the best you can do?
“I no longer have the passion for Track and Field or the Heptathlon that I used to because I know I can’t advance any further in the sport; I’ve given it all I can, and I refuse to come back and half-ass it because I love and respect this event and sport too much. With that, I’ve decided to retire. It’s time to move on to my next passion, the next thing in the world I hope to make an impact in.”
Ashton who competed internationally for the USA, holds three World Indoor titles in the Pentathlon, and two Decathlon world titles. He also won two consecutive Olympic GOLD medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016, taking the victory in Brazil by tying the Olympic Record (OR) of 8,893 points.
He became only the third man in history to win the Olympic Decathlon twice. Many refer to Ashton as the ‘World’s Greatest Athlete’, and he capped the 2016 season by winning the IAAF World Athlete of the Year (Male) award.
Brianne represented Canada internationally and is a two-time World Championships Silver medallist and reigning Commonwealth Champion. She’s also the current World Indoor Champion in the Pentathlon and scooped Bronze at Rio 2016.
The pair, both aged 28, met at the University of Oregon where they were both track stars. They got married in 2013 and share the same coach, Harry Marra.
