When Ashton Eaton gets recognized in Portland, Eugene or Bend these days, it is often by somebody who was at Eugene’s Hayward Field on June 23, 2012, to witness track and field history.

Thursday marked the 10-year anniversary of Eaton’s world record 9,039 points in the decathlon at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. The decathlete who grew up in La Pine and Bend and competed for the University of Oregon would go on to win two Olympic gold medals, but that day at Hayward Field 10 years ago is etched in his mind when he reflects on his track and field career.

“I suppose what stands out the most is … how life-changing that moment was,” Eaton said in an interview last week. “Because in that moment that’s when I became the Ashton Eaton that everybody thinks of and sees in their mind when they say my name. Whenever I go down to Eugene or meet the odd person in Portland, if they were there, that’s the very first thing that somebody says: ‘I was there in 2012. …’

“As an athlete it’s a good thing, because you have done something that’s inspired people. That makes me feel good. And I think from that moment, my career was just really great from that time on.”

Much has changed in the past 10 years. Eaton would go on to become Olympic champion in 2012 and 2016 and break his own record, earning 9,045 points at the world championships in Beijing in 2015. That world record has since been broken by France’s Kevin Mayer, who scored 9,126 points at a meet in France in 2018.

Eaton, 34, retired from track and field five years ago and lives in Sherwood with his wife, 2016 Olympic heptathlon bronze medalist Brianne Theisen-Eaton, and their two children. The couple have a 2-year-old son, Ander, and recently welcomed a daughter, Ellion, who was born on June 11.

Mother and daughter are healthy and thriving, according to Eaton, and the family plans to attend some of the track and field world championships at Hayward Field July 15-24. Eaton is hoping to watch some of the decathlon, which will feature the 2020 Olympic gold medalist Damian Warner of Canada and Mayer, the 2020 Olympic silver medalist.

Eaton is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology campus in Wilsonville while working part-time for Intel with the Olympic technology group, which creates technology that can track and analyze human motion with cameras and deliver results in 3D.

He is busy with work, school and his young family, but Eaton was happy to take some time last week to reflect on his milestone of 10 years ago.

“It’s always been an achievement that I have valued more than the gold medals,” Eaton said. “It’s really hard to downplay the significance of being the best ever at something, of those who have attempted it. For me at that age, at that time, I was like, holy crap, I did not expect that.”

The decathlon includes 10 events over two days of competition. Decathletes score points for each event based on their performance in the event and have a running total of points throughout the competition. The first day of the decathlon includes the 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 meters. The second day includes the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters.

Eaton started the Olympic Trials decathlon on June 22, 2012, with a bang: a 100-meter decathlon world record of 10.21 seconds. On the second day, he set lifetime bests in the pole vault (17 feet, 4½ inches) and the javelin (193-1). Suddenly the world record of 9,026 points, set by Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic in 2001, was within reach — but Eaton did not know it.

“The pole vault was just a really great atmosphere,” Eaton recalled. “The east-side grandstands at the time were going just absolutely bonkers for every bar that people cleared. I cleared the bar by a centimeter. I went nuts and the crowd went nuts. I think everybody was going nuts, because maybe they knew I was getting close to some record, but I didn’t. That moment stood out.”

Eaton talked with his coach Harry Marra after the pole vault. “He was telling me I need to throw the javelin super far,” Eaton said. “I was like, ‘Why, what record are you trying to get me to break, the American record?’ He goes, ‘No, the world record.’ I was like, ‘Oh crap.’”

Eaton would need to run the 1,500 in a lifetime best 4:16.37 to break the world record. The other decathletes knew it. Decathletes compete against each other but hold a special bond and camaraderie that can only come from the grueling two-day battle for the title of “world’s greatest athlete.”

“I know what I have to run and I’m very, very nervous because it’s much faster than I ever have,” Eaton recalled of those moments before the 1,500. “We’re just sitting there and it’s quiet. I just remember how nervous I was. Curtis Beach goes, ‘Hey, do you want me to run a certain pace and you can tail off me?’ I said, ‘I appreciate that, but no.’ I didn’t want him to have the responsibility of if I didn’t break it. I was like, ‘I need to try to do this myself.’”

Beach was a decathlete from Duke who was easily the best 1,500-meter runner of the bunch. He would race to a huge lead, and Eaton found himself in third behind Joe Detmer of Wisconsin. But his place didn’t matter, all that mattered was his time. On the final 250 meters, Detmer and Beach were happy to help.

“On the last lap I caught up to Joe and he basically paced me for 250 meters,” Eaton said. “Curtis was way ahead of us, and then Curtis, at 50 meters to go, that’s when he stopped and moved to the side.”

The roars at the old Hayward Field were deafening as Eaton crossed the finish line in a lifetime best 4:14.48. Shortly thereafter he fell into the arms of his then-girlfriend Theisen-Eaton and his mother, Roz, and circled the track for a victory lap.

“My first reaction was shock,” Eaton said. “My second reaction was I feel really bad for taking the record from Roman, because he was such a legend, still a legend, in our sport. Then I was like, what does this mean? How did this happen, here, at Hayward?”

Eaton said that moment resonates with many track and field fans in the state because he is from Oregon and he set the record at the stadium on the Oregon campus.

“The fact that I was born here, I’m from here, and I did that where I went to school and where I went to high school state track,” said the Mountain View High graduate. “People really love the story of somebody being from their own backyard and turning into something great at home. Just knowing that person was from their state is what really excites people.”

“I suppose what stands out the most is … how life-changing that moment was. Because in that moment that’s when I became the Ashton Eaton that everybody thinks of and sees in their mind when they say my name. Whenever I go down to Eugene or meet the odd person in Portland, if they were there, that’s the very first thing that somebody days: ‘I was there in 2012. …'”

— Ashton Eaton, reflecting on his world record-breaking mark in the decathlon in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene