36. Ashton Eaton: Leveling Up

Is becoming only the third man in the history of the world to win back-to-back Olympic decathlon gold medals as easy as treating everything like a video game and leveling up? Or is at simple as just imitating what you see on television? For Duck track legend Ashton Eaton, it may just be. Eaton’s journey to greatness is an unlikely one. The only child of a single mom, Eaton, who grew up in LaPine, Oregon, had limited scholarship offers out of high school. That is until he was convinced to try a track event called the decathlon by his high school coaches. It was a conversation that would change his life. Oregon scholarship in hand, Eaton began his rise to the top of the decathlon world. Five-time NCAA champion. Eight-time All-American. 2012 Olympic Gold medalist. And then the 2016 Olympic Gold medalist. All of it came from a mentality he learned in his childhood playing video games. He just leveled up.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.