The world's greatest athlete

There have been a lot of titles thrown about during the past two weeks of the Olympics. First there was American Michael Phelps, who was proclaimed the greatest swimmer in history and the "greatest Olympian" ever.

Then there was Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who after winning the 100 meter dash in a new world record time, claimed the title of "world's fastest man."

On Friday there was an even more impressive title given out. American Bryan Clay won the Olympic Decathlon on Friday and claimed the title of "the world's greatest athlete."

Why is Clay considered the world's greatest athlete instead of Phelps, with 8 gold medals in the games? Because the decathlon requires competitors to participate in 10 different events over two days.

It starts on day 1 with the 100 meters, the long jump, the shot put, the high jump and the 400 meters. Then on day 2, athletes participate in the 110 meter hurdles, the discus, the pole vault, the javelin and finally the grueling 1500 meters.

The 28-year-old Clay blew away his competition, racking up 8791 points for the gold, followed by Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus with 8551 points and Cuba's Leonel Suarez with 8527, according to the official Beijing Olympics web site.

On the way to victory, the 5' 10", 183 pound Clay achieved the world's highest decathlon score since 2004 at the US Olympic trials, according to AFP News.

Clay was born in Texas but moved to Hawaii at the age of 3 and grew up in Honolulu, where he was admittedly a troubled teen until he left for college in 1998. Clay attended and graduated from Azusa Pacific University, accepted Christianity and met his eventual wife, Sarah Smith. He credits sports and his religious faith for saving him from his troubled teen years.