Fifty of the WBC's best athletes turned out this Olympic year to go after the championship in Decathlon late Friday night. As in previous years the players were free to select any of the eight athletes that they choose as they were each given a handicap based on their performance.

The first item of interest is the lengths that Bruce Monnin went to try and improve his chances for victory. He spent two days at his in-law's analyzing Vasily Kuznetsov's performance to come up with his "ideal" strategy. Now, I'm all for players preparing themselves for the tournaments, but this is Decathlon, it's a dice rolling game, there should not be a whole lot of strategy involved. I made it a point to announce this fact to the group and everyone replied with a resounding chorus of boo's to Bruce's incredibly misguided efforts. What makes it all the worse is that Bruce came no where near winning the tournament. We love you Bruce, but maybe next year you should try a different athlete.

As for the actual tournament, the Gold Medal went to Devin Flawd who led Raefer Johnson to an impressive score of 8595 points. Raefer Johnson also took the Silver Medal as Keith "Boom-Boom" Hunsinger coached him to 8525 points. The Bronze Medal went to Mark Love who took Bill Toome to 8490 points. Rounding out the top six were Scott Sharp (Bob Matthias), Dave Gantt (Vasily Kuznetsov), and Andy Lewis (Raefer Johnson).

While this was Raefer Johnson's first victory in the four years I've been running this tournament, his taking three of the top six spots has me a bit concerned about the handicaps. While I don't intend any changes for next year, if the trend continues I will possibly make some modifications in 2002.

So ends another exciting Decathlon tournament. While it may not be the most mentally challenging game at the WBC, it offers an excellent opportunity for some fun and craziness. Bruce, just remember we'll be checking your cheat sheets again next year!