He’s Queensland’s best all-round athlete who’s bound for the Rio Olympics, but you’ve probably never heard of him. Cedric Dubler will represent Australia in decathlon, one of the toughest of any Olympic sports.

Jessica Stewart reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Cedric Dubler grew up dreaming of the Olympics.

Now it’s a reality, the 21-year-old Queenslander selected to compete in the grueling ten-event decathlon in Rio.

He can run a 100 metres in under 11 seconds, soar over 2.15 metres in high jump and throw a javelin half the length of a football field.

Dubler’s all-round athletic ability was spotted early.

Cedric Dubler, Decathlete: “My second pole vault coach just turned to me and said you’re going to be a decathlete. Come give it a go. And so it sort of just progressed from there, national doing well, then progressing onto world juniors and now the Olympics.”

Eight years on, he’s reached the pinnacle, but not before giving it his all over two days at last month’s National Championships in Sydney.

Suffering serious muscle fatigue, Dubler finally sealed selection in his final race, the dreaded 1500 metre.

Cedric Dubler, Decathlete: “It was such a big build up of emotion and stress and physical pain, that once I’d crossed that it was just utter relief.”

Despite training six to seven hours a day, Dubler spends his precious down-time sharing his journey with a growing fan-base on social media.

Cedric will begin his final leg of his journey to Rio in early August, but for now he will continue to train here on the track in Brisbane.

Jessica Stewart, QUT News.