RIO DE JANEIRO -- Shortly after Ashton Eaton won his second straight Olympic gold medal in decathlon Thursday night, Usain Bolt earned his eighth gold by winning the 200 meter run. Bolt received enormous applause and attention, and deservedly so, because that was an amazing accomplishment. But Bolt had to run only 200 meters to win. He didnt have to also run 1,500 meters. And throw a discus, a shot put and a javelin. And attempt the pole vault, either. Or jump as long and high as possible. Or compete in 10 different events in just two days.I know, right? Exactly, U.S. decathlete Jeremy Taiwo said. You need to be skilled at so many things in the decathlon. I know the Greeks really valued that.We should value the decathlon more, as well. Just as we used to.Decathlon champions were first regarded as the worlds greatest athlete when Swedens king bestowed that honor on Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Eaton earned that title at the 2012 Olympics and he retained it with an Olympic record-tying mark of 8,893 points Thursday to join Bob Mathias and Daley Thompson as the only three decathletes to win two Olympic golds.I am proud to be part of the decathlon family, Eaton said.Unfortunately, far fewer people know his name than they did in the old days when the champ was a nationally known hero, such as Bruce Jenner.He is nowhere near that. Isnt that incredible? Taiwo said. I dont really know how to get it trending for Ashton to be acknowledged by more of the world that hes the best athlete in the world. Because he is. Its one of those things where its like, Huh? I feel he should get more recognition because hes been so awesome and so dominant. Just like Bolt.Bolt and Justin Gatlin complained about having to run the 100 twice Sunday with little more than an hour break. Sure, it slowed their times in the final race, but cmon. Compare that to the decathletes.After finishing their first five events Wednesday around 10 p.m., the decathletes had to get up early Thursday, run the 110 hurdles at 9:30 a.m. and throw the discus an hour later. Then they had to pole vault a little later in the afternoon, throw the javelin in the evening and run the 1,500 roughly two hours later. No wonder most of the competitors collapsed to the track at the end of the race.The decathlon is never an easy walk-through, Eaton said.No kidding. Eaton said he got six hours sleep Wednesday night and Taiwo said he didnt get any shut-eye.When competing in the decathlon, Eaton said he is also watching the other athletes. And I think, How are they doing this? I almost separate myself from them. Watching Kevin Mayer fly down the pole vault runway at 4 p.m. after throwing the discus and knowing what it feels like. Watching Damian Warner after racing in the hurdles in the morning and thinking, I know how that feels.Its amazing to sit and watch and knowing what it takes to go through it.So why are the decathlon champions no longer as famous as they were? Why do they not get the attention others do?Part of the reason for the decline is ever-shortening attention spans. French silver medalist Kevin Mayer said that people love the 100 meter dash because it is over so quickly. Watching all 10 decathlon events is almost as long a process as sitting through every episode of The Walking Dead. No matter how much you like each one, it takes time.Canadian bronze medalist Damian Warner said another problem is people compare them to the top athletes in specific disciplines and are unimpressed when decathletes dont match their marks.Its not very special for them to see us running the 1,500 in 4:20 and see us on the ground dying afterward, Warner said. What people dont understand is we have a very small amount of time to do these events and were doing 10 different events. People needto? see how tough it is. Once people see how tough it is, they get a lot more excited. Once people have done the decathlon, they just love it.Few people will ever attempt the decathlon or even some of its events. But we still should pay more attention to it. And be as familiar with the champion as we once were.Eaton highly praised Bolt and said he was happy just to be in the same pages of the Olympic book as him. With two gold medals in the most difficult sport, Eaton should be on the front page and in the forefront of our memories of these Olympics. Shawn Kelley Jersey .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training. 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BALTIMORE -- The Boston Red Sox sit comfortably atop the American League East and can further distance themselves from the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.Boston dominated the first two matchups of the crucial four-game series, outscoring Baltimore 10-4. The Red Sox lead the fading Orioles by five games, and another victory will likely shift Baltimores focus solely on retaining one of the two wild-card berths.I think there is growing confidence in our clubhouse daily, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. Weve responded to a number of challenges, whether its on the road or coming from behind to win ball games in the division. Those are key. When you succeed in those, thats a snowball effect that takes place. To balance that out, no one is taking any of that for granted.Clay Buchholz (7-10, 5.20 ERA) tries to lead the Red Sox to their seventh straight victory. The right-hander was dominant in his last outing against the Yankees, when he picked up the win after allowing two runs on seven hits over six innings.The Orioles turn to Ubaldo Jimenez (7-11, 5.94 ERA) to gain some much-needed momentum. He has surprisingly been one of Baltimores best pitchers over the past month. Jimenez was put in the rotation when Chris Tillman went on the disabled list Aug. 24. From there, Jimenez has thrived and helped the playoff push.In his last outing, Jimenez gave the Orioles bullpen a rest by throwing seven innings in a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. However, Jimenez has struggled against the Red Sox, going 2-5 with a 7.39 ERA in 13 starts.While Baltimore manager Buck Showalter deeclined to describe any game as a must win, his team sorely needs a victory.ddddddddddddWe know how many opportunities there are and theres still an opportunity for us, Showalter said. They are a good team, like all the teams are at this level, but especially a team having as good of a year as they are. Its one thing to want to do it, as much as our guys want to, but you get a couple pitching performances against us like weve had the last two nights its a challenge.The biggest challenge for Jimenez will be containing Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts, who has pounded Orioles pitching this season. Betts has hit safely in all eight games at Camden Yards, batting .561 with eight home runs and 15 RBI over that span.David Ortiz also dominated the Orioles pitching staff. On Tuesday, Ortiz got his 36th home run, a three-run shot in the seventh inning, that proved to be the decisive blow in the 5-2 victory.This was really huge, Bradley said. We faced a really good team in Baltimore. To get two wins right away is very vital for us. I think it will help us keep building on our momentum and finish strong.The 36 homers by Ortiz are the most by any player in his final season, one ahead of Dave Kingman in 1986. Ortiz has six home runs in his past nine games at Camden Yards.Ill try to hit a couple more so nobody can reach me, Ortiz said. Its just a number, man. Im just trying to help this ballclub. I dont care about personal numbers. I care about winning. ' ' '