Exhausted by the two days of competition in the decathlon, the most grueling test of these Olympic Games, Bryan Clay trudged to the finish line in the final event, the 1,500 meters, to earn his gold medal yesterday.

Leg weary, a couple of steps later, he plopped down on his back on the track to try and catch his breath.

But if Beijing was over for the Castle High graduate, the will to challenge himself apparently is not. If Clay's muscles ached and his bones groaned under the punishment of the decathlon, his competitive spirit remained seemingly untouched.

"I'm hoping to continue to do this through 2012," Clay said yesterday. "I, hopefully, can get another medal. I don't know if anybody's got three medals at the Olympic Games. That's, maybe, another goal."

For the record, there have been two repeat winners of the decathlon, Bob Mathias (1948 and '52) and Daley Thompson (1980 and '84) but nobody who has medaled in three consecutive Olympiads.

Want to understand how someone who is — maybe — 5 feet, 11 inches and 185 pounds manages to win a competition where both the field and prototype winners are well over 6 feet? Trying to grasp how someone from well off track and field's beaten path earns the historic title of "World's Greatest Athlete?"

Clay targeting London in 2012 before the 28-year-old has been barely able to leave finger prints on this gold medal should help us fathom the inner overdrive that has now, with a silver in Athens, taken him to back-to-back medal stands.

Watching the Castle High graduate come back from injuries in previous years and compete in all severe elements — torrential rain and searing heat — in Beijing, suggest an inner strength that eclipses even the sturdy physical prowess displayed over 10 events.

Clay not only won the gold medal, he won it going away, just needing to complete the 1,500 meters to secure it. His 240-point margin being the widest margin since 1972.

"I've been telling people that I'm in the best shape of my life," Clay explained. "I really am. I've been training incredibly hard. Training's been going really well. You might not be able to tell by some of the results, but when you take into account everything we've had to go through the last two days, I think I did well."

You will not find dissenters among the vanquished. "Bryan is king now," Roman Sebrele of the Czech Republic, the dethroned Olympic champion, told the media.

Like the Olympic flame itself, Clay's competitive fires continue. Would it really surprise anyone to see them both burning in London four years hence?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.