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Winding his Rhine-wide shoulders, he hurled the platter in a high arc and hit a personal best of 166 ft. 9 in. Thompson's first two throws were stubby line drives, neither exceeding 140 ft. If he had done no better on his third try, Thompson would have slumped to second place. But he reared back and uncorked his alltime best of 152 ft. 9 in. His lead was preserved, though only 32 points now separated the two men.
Then, in the pole vault, Hingsen nearly succumbed to the decathlete's nightmare: disqualification for not making height. Before vaulting, he had thrown up twice, and on his first two tries at 14 ft. 9 in. he looked like a clumsy fledgling. On his third effort he cleared it by a whisker, but that was as high as he went. Under the point system, each inch in the vault is worth about 6 points, making it a disproportionately weighted event. So with Hingsen grounded, Thompson rose for the kill. When he cleared 16 ft. 4¾ in., he delightedly executed a back flip on the pink landing pad. No points were awarded for the extracurricular flip, but Thompson landed with a cushy lead of 152 points.
Hingsen knew it was over. He managed a javelin throw of only 198 ft. 3 in., 23 ft. short of his best. After several awkward practice heaves, Thompson launched a toss of 214 ft., followed by the obligatory grin. In the final event, the 1,500 meters, Thompson could have changed his shirt while racing and still won the gold. But he had to run at least 4:34.8 to break Hingsen's decathlon record of 8,798 points. Seemingly easing up at the end, however, Thompson trudged across the finish line in 4:35, two-tenths of a second-and two points-shy of what he needed to establish a new world mark. But he had the Olympic record, and he had won, 8,797 points to 8,673 for Hingsen.
"I was just running on feeling," he said later. "I was having a good time." After his victory lap (wearing a light blue T shirt that read across the chest, THANKS AMERICA FOR A GREAT GAMES, and added on the back BUT WHAT ABOUT THE TV COVERAGE?), Thompson was greeted by Princess Anne. "Daley, what did she say to you?" a reporter asked. Answered Thompson: "She said I was a damn good-looking guy." So began another stand-up comedy routine.