Everybody knew it was true. He was an NCAA champion. He even won the 2000 Olympic Trials. Tom Pappas was going to be the next great American decathlete, following in the footsteps of Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson, Bruce Jenner, Dan O’Brien. He might even have a shot at a gold medal someday.

Someday could come very soon.

Pappas won the 1999 NCAA decathlon title, a year in which he also set the collegiate record of 8,463 points. Pappas kept rolling through 2000, winning the Olympic Trials in a personal best of 8,467 and placing fifth in the Olympic Games, behind American teammate Chris Huffins’ bronze medal.

Taking the next step up to the medal stand would have to wait, however. In 2001, a shoulder injury kept Pappas from completing the decathlon at the USA Outdoor Championships in a World Championships year. Despite the injury, he was ranked #10 in the world by Track & Field News, achieving his first world ranking.

By 2002, Pappas was healthy, continuing his steady improvement and showing great consistency in the 8,400-8,500-point range. He set another personal best in taking second at Gotzis, the biggest decathlon event of the year, with 8,583 points. He won the U.S. championship and finished the year ranked #2 in the world.

It was all just a prelude to 2003, when Pappas has lit up the multi-events on the global stage. He won the 2003 World Indoor heptathlon title in Birmingham, scoring 6,361 and setting personal bests in five of the seven events. Pappas beat, among others, champion and outdoor decathlon world record holder Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic. He then placed second at Gotzis with a new PR of 8,585, finishing behind Sebrle’s 8,807.

“It was a big, big confidence booster,” Pappas said of his World Indoor win. “Going into World Indoors, personally I thought I had a good opportunity to win it. It kind of started the outdoor season for me. My confidence is high.”

He saved his best for his most recent competition, the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Stanford. Before the meet, he had predicted that scoring “8,600 to 8,800 will definitely be possible in the next year.” It became a reality at Stanford, where he set a Day 1 personal best with 4,691 points en route to an overall PR of 8,784 – well within striking distance of Sebrle’s 2003 best of 8,807 and a score that makes Pappas the #2 U.S. decathlete of all time.

Even before USA Outdoors, Pappas predicted that he would have “a good shot” at winning the 2003 World Outdoor title. After one day of competition in Paris, Pappas had scored 4,546 points and was in second place heading into Day 2.

No American has won an Olympic or World Championships competition in the decathlon since Dan O’Brien took the gold at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and the last medals won by an American were Huffins’ bronze medals at the 2000 Olympic Games and 1999 World Championships.

A medal of any color would be an achievement for Pappas in Paris. How does it feel to have the track world looking to you as the next person to bring glory to the decathlon?

“It means a lot,” Pappas said. “To be thought of as one of the great athletes, it means a lot to me to go out there and do well and try to help the sport. The decathlon is a great event. We’ve got Bruce Jenner and Dan O’Brien and those guys. They helped the sport, and I want to continue that.”