Progression of the World Record
Altogether 35 world records have been reported since 1920. 8 of these were set at Olympic Games (especially those in the early years) - the last one at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
It is difficult to compare scores from the 1920s and today's world record, because the points table were changed several times during the century. New tables were introduced in 1920, 1934, 1950, 1965 and 1984.
Here you can see a list of all world records set after 1964. Especially in the 1980s there was a constant fight for the record between Daley Thompson and Jürgen Hingsen.

Year Points Athlete Results Venue

1966 8230 Russell Hodge (USA) 10,5-7,51-17,25-1,85-48,9-15,2-50,44-4,10-64,49-4:40,4 Los Angeles

1967 8319 Kurt Bendlin (FRG) 10,6-7,55-14,50-1,84-47,9-14,8-46,31-4,10-74,85-4:19,4 Heidelberg

1969 8417 William Toomey (USA) 10,3-7,76-14,38-1,93-47,1-14,3-46,49-4,27-65,74-4:39,4 Los Angeles

1972 8454 Nikolai Avilov (URS) 11,00-7,68-14,36-2,12-48,45-14,31-46,98-4,55-61,66-4:22,82 Munich

1975 8524 Bruce Jenner (USA) 10,7-7,17-15,25-2,01-49,03-14,84-50,00-4,70-65,52-4:16,6 Eugene

1976 8617 Bruce Jenner (USA) 10,94-7,22-15,35-2,03-47,51-14,84-50,04-4,80-68,52-4:12,61 Montreal

1980 8622 Daley Thompson (GBR) 10,55-7,22-14,46-2,11-48,04-14,37-42,98-4,90-65,38-4:25,49 Götzis

1980 8649 Guido Kratschmer (FRG) 10,58-7,80-15,47-2,00-48,04-13,92-45,52-4,60-66,50-4:24,15 Bernhausen

1982 8704 Daley Thompson (GBR) 10,50-7,95-15,31-2,08-46,86-14,31-44,34-4,90-60,52-4:30,55 Götzis

1982 8723 Jürgen Hingsen (FRG) 10,74-7,85-16,00-2,15-47,65-14,64-44,92-4,60-63,10-4:15,13 Ulm

1982 8743 Daley Thompson (GBR) 10,51-7,80-15,44-2,03-47,11-14,39-45,48-5,00-63,56-4:23,71 Athens

1983 8779 Jürgen Hingsen (FRG) 10,92-7,74-15,94-2,15-47,89-14,10-46,90-4,70-67,26-4:19,74 Bernhausen

1984 8798 Jürge Hingsen (FRG) 10,70-7,76-16,42-2,07-48,05-14,07-49,36-4,90-59,86-4:19,75 Mannheim

1984 8847 Daley Thompson (GBR) 10,44-8,01-15,72-2,03-46,97-14,33-46,56-5,00-65,24-4:35,00 Los Angeles

1992 8891 Dan O'Brien (USA) 10,43-8,08-16,69-2,07-48,51-13,98-48,56-5,00-62,58-4:42,10 Talence

1999 8994 Tomas Dvorak (CZE) 10,54-7,90-16,78-2,04-48,08-13,73-48,33-4,90-72,32-4:37,20 Prague

2001 9026 Roman Sebrle (CZE) 10,64-8,11-15,33-2,12-47,79-13,92-47,92-4,80-70,16-4:21,98 Götzis

Sebrle's 9026 points
Before May 27th in 2001 Roman Sebrle had a personal best of 8757 points and had won the silver medal at the olympics the previous year. But he was usually in the shadow of his great fellow countryman Tomas Dvorak, who was reigning World Champion and world record holder with 8994 points, thus having narrowly missed the magic 9000 points mark.
So nobody really expected Sebrle to score a personal best in five events and becoming the first athlete ever to score more than 9000 points. Everyone actually believed Dvorak would try to attack his own record.

It was a really close race, but even after a great first day nobody talked about the world record, although Sebrle's score was 30 points ahead of Dvorak's at his world record.
And day 2 did not start too well with Sebrle losing points against Dvorak in almost every event. And even after a great javelin throw of over 70 metres he was still behind by 68 points.
But Dvorak's 1500m had not been too fast. And Sebrle, knowing he had to run faster than 4:26, got help from one of the best 1500m runner among the decathletes, Attila Zsivoczky. Probably without that help the attempt would have failed.