Rex Harvey, 65, has spent 45 years competing as an athlete and as a volunteer USA Track & Field official. One can do a lot in 45 years, and Harvey has done just that. He has finished more decathlons than anyone — ever — and the closest competitor, former 1996 U.S. Olympic hopeful Kip Janvrin, is still more than 60 decathlons behind him.
“I have done more decathlons than anyone ever in the world,” Harvey said. “I’ve done 161 decathlons.”@@you aren’t bragging, are you?@@
He started his long track and field career in junior high school and just didn’t want to stop after college.
“I kept on competing,” he said. “Which is very unusual; and that’s why I’ve done more decathlons than other people.”
He was awarded an athletic scholarship at Iowa State University. There, he qualified for four NCAA Division I Championships in track and field.
This year’s U.S. Olympic Trials will be Harvey’s second U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field that he has attended. He competed in the decathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1976 when it was also then held at Hayward Field.
“It was the biggest meet of my life — until I got up into the masters’,” he said.
He kept on competing by attending the masters’ track and field meets. In 1982, he scored 7,280 points to set what was then the American record for the men’s decathlon in the men’s 30-39 age group; he still holds the world record for the men’s decathlon in the men’s 40-49 age group that he set in 1991, scoring 7,780 points.
Harvey has competed all over the world but came back to Eugene to win the very first Master’s Decathlon & Heptathlon Championship@@we need to find out which organization sponsored ths@@ at Hayward Field in 1989. Through the years, he has enjoyed competing at Hayward Field.
“I have fond memories of Eugene,” he said. “I’ve worked here many time as an official.”
Through his commitment to the sport and the technical part of track and field, he has held prestigious positions within track and field. He served as the vice president of the World Masters Athletics, the World Association of Masters Athletes for eight years,@@what? this position doesn’t make sense@@ before his term ended in 2009.
Harvey is currently the U.S. representative of the IAAF Masters’ Committee, The organization designated by the International Association of Athletics Federations to conduct the worldwide sport of Masters (veterans) and Athletics (track and field).
“I was very active in organizing early masters’ competitions and had been active on the technical side of it for a long time,” he said.
He is one of the five national technical officials at Hayward Field for the U.S Olympic Trials. There are not enough USATF referees to be at every event, so there are technical officials instead with no other job than to overview@@dont know ap style for ‘overview’@@ the event, Harvey said.
“We’re the eyes and ears of the referees,” he said.
During the years he was competing, he would also officiate whenever he could or when he was injured and unable compete. After retiring from competing 13 years ago because of an issue with his foot, he continues to volunteer as an official.
“Someone officiated thousands of meets that I was in, 45-years worth, so its the least I can do to give back — give that chance to someone else,” Harvey said.