Gabby Pieraccini
Brief athletics career peaked with a glorious medal for Glasgow University in the 4x200 relay in 1992 (look it up, it’s true, honest). Since then been talking about decathlon to anyone who will listen, or anyone who has ears. Civil servant in Edinburgh, Scotland. Loves to tell the stories of decathlon: the highs, the lows, the joy and the tears.
I grew up with the almighty battles between Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen. I was fascinated by how two people who looked so completely different in stature could compete in the same event. In other athletics events, we only get to watch athletes compete for a few moments, or even just a few seconds. In the decathlon, we live through two days and ten iterations of highs and lows. Every run, every jump, every throw.
Every decathlon has a story, and I do my best to help tell those stories – here, on Decathlonpedia, and on my own website decathletesofeurope.co.uk.
I follow decathlons, and heptathlons, all around Europe and beyond. I rejoiced in Berlin in 2009 at Trey Hardee’s and Jessica Ennis’ glorious wins. I winced in Birmingham in 2007 as Josef Karas limped around the 1000m, and cheered Ashton Eaton in Glasgow as he tried out the 400m hurdles in 2014. I gasped in Belgrade in 2017 as Mihail Dudas tumbled in the final event and cried in Berlin as Arthur Abele finally won European gold in 2018. And I was soaked in the champagne spray in Talence that followed Kevin Mayer’s breathtaking world record.
I grew up near Glasgow, Scotland and now live in Edinburgh with my husband, Andrew. When I’m not watching decathlons and athletics more generally, I work as a civil servant for the Scottish Government and drink a lot of Irn Bru.