PORTLAND, Ore. — Not only is Ashton Eaton the greatest athlete in the world, but he also aims to inspire others to become great. In partnership with his wife Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the World Champion decathlete created the social media campaign #WhatsYourGold with the hope of encouraging others to go after their version of an Olympic gold medal.

“In the Olympic year, athletes go after gold medals, but we think everybody can go after a gold medal, a personal one. We can have parallel journeys,” Eaton told FloTrack at a press conference on Thursday.

The campaign was launched on the couple’s website WeAreEaton.com and calls upon the social media community with the hashtag #WhatsYourGold to share stories of individuals pursuing their own “personal gold.” Examples that the contest provides are running a marathon, starting a business, fostering a shelter animal or any other ambition which requires goal setting and either reaching it or falling short. The person who submits the best story will receive a trip for two to the Olympic Games in Rio this August.

“We know the value in trying to go after something and what you learn about yourself through ups and downs,” he said.



Ahead of the USATF Indoor Championships where Eaton is set to compete in his hometown of Portland, the Olympic Champion can’t stop smiling when recalling some of the inspiring stories that have been submitted.

“One of the ones I thought was really cool was this young lady who wants to start a business to help young women have a better positive body image, at the collegiate level,” Eaton said. “I thought that was really good because you get a lot of negative stuff in the press about that and there’s a lot of pressure on girls, and as a person who’s going to have kids one day, hopefully some girls, I think that’s important.”

Some of the featured participants on the contest website include Michael Forsberg, a runner and humanitarian for World Vision, and Clara Hughes, a Canadian Olympian and humanitarian. In order to enter, participants must submit their goal, a struggle, a breakthrough, and the outcome of that goal.

“It’s very tough to publicly commit to 1. I’m going to try and achieve this and 2. saying ‘this is where I struggled,’ it’s tough,” Eaton said.

“To go through things like that and openly state that is powerful and I think that’s what we’re trying to draw out of people — to have them see the positive that their story can have, even though it’s a negative experience — how you go through that is important for people to know,” he added.

Eaton is coming off of his own gold medal-winning performance at the 2015 World Outdoor Championships last August where he repeated as World Champion and broke his own world record in the decathlon.

USATF Indoors will be an opportunity to “see where we are,” as Eaton is set to take on the 60m and long jump tomorrow. The defending World indoor champion has already been awarded an automatic qualifying spot to compete in the heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships next weekend, where he is aiming for his own “personal gold," another World title.