Heptathlon: The Current Scoring System and its Biases: An Analysis into the Distribution of Scores

Heptathlon is an Olympic combined event including seven track and field events. It is intended to identify the most versatile athlete. Performances from each event are scored using a points system and then summed up to reach a final score. The objective of this study is to examine if the data distribution of the heptathlon scoring system equally represents the seven events and to explore the contribution of each event to the final score. To determine this, a multiple linear regression was conducted on the results of 433 heptathlons from 19 competitions. The results showed that the scores among the disciplines are unequally distributed with throwing events having the smallest proportion (12%) and hurdles having the greatest proportion (17%) on the final score. Track events show, on average, smaller standard deviations (940.06±67.95) in their scores in comparison to field events (836.90±88.62). Long jump seems to be a key predictor for an athlete’s final score (B=118.33). Concluding, the current scoring system is not well suited to determine a multitalented athlete. It favors sprinters and jumpers over throwers and should therefore be reconsidered. Further research is necessary to develop a system that treats all events equally. Keywords: combined events, scoring system, performance analysis, heptathlon, IAAF