DALEY THOMPSON'S DECATHLON
By Mark Nobes, chief editor
Gameplay
The player controls Daley Thompson (there would be little point in controlling Sebastian Coe) and take part in ten events over two days. Now, if you can’t remember what these events were then let me jog your memory;
100 Metres
Long Jump
Shot Putt
High Jump
400 Metres
110m Hurdles
Pole Vault
Discus
Javelin
1500m
Unlike the real life Decathlon, in the simulation you have three lives - thankfully, in the real event you don’t actually lose your life, unless you manage to accidentally trip and stab yourself with a javelin or drop the shot putt on your head, of course.
The player is required to reach a minimum score in each event, and failing to do so causes you to lose a life.

Ttitle screen from C64 version
To enable Daley to gain momentum, you were required to vigorously “waggle” your joystick from left to right. It was at this point that your Mum would burst into the room with a cup of coffee. “What are you up to?”, she asked with a startled look on her face. “Erm, just waggling my joystick vigorously, Mum”, came the nervous reply.
The alternative was to hammer two keys on the keyboard, and as this was bbuilt into the the computer on virtually every model back in the day, it was far better to ruin your joystick - you could always replace it. And for Speccy owners, those fragile rubber keys were simply not up to much of a hammering.
However, you couldn't replace your wrist, and after a long session playing the game, you would need to give it a couple of days to recover before playing again.
Music

ZX Spectrum screenshots - title screen, high jump and pole vault