Dan O'Brien
Dan O'Brien
American decathlete who won an Olympic Gold medal in 1996, as well as titles at the World Championships in Athletics.
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDecathlete
Date of Birth18 July 1966
CityPortland, OR
CountryUnited States of America
thinking race important
It's important for me to think I'm mixed-race.
people major-league gauges
We'll probably only consider a handful of individuals. We'll bring up people who can accumulate either innings or at-bats, so we can hopefully gauge where they stand as a prospective Major Leaguer.
anyone disease exposed hunters main mosquito spread
It is a disease that can spread to humans, ... It's rare, but it does happen. The main way hunters would be exposed to it is the same way anyone else would, and that's through mosquito bites.
failure good pole
After the failure in '92, my goal was to be a good pole vaulter. I used that as motivation.
baseball behind coaches colleges direction experience good immediate interest meal pushed saw sports support ton track
I didn't get a ton of interest from colleges in baseball and football, but I was outstanding in track and had the sense that this would be my meal ticket... Track was a sport where I saw immediate improvement, and I had a lot of good support behind me... and the coaches had a lot of experience and pushed me in that direction for sure.
failure
I've always had to have some kind of failure before I was successful.
knee leg record surgery time
When my world record got broken in 1999, it hurt a little bit, to say the least. But I was in a leg brace at the time and I had just had knee surgery and I couldn't do anything about it.
attention bruce league olympic paying playing time until
I was playing little league baseball when Bruce Jenner was winning the gold, but I don't think I was really paying attention at that time. It wasn't until 1980 - I think I was 12 years old - that I thought, 'Wow that's what I want to do. I want to be on the Olympic team.'
american-athlete
If you never give up, you'll be successful.
bigger cars financing income majority problem
That's going to be a bigger problem going forward. The majority of the income is made on the financing side, not on making cars anymore.
defined failures learned paid people successes
As athletes, we're defined by what we've accomplished. Those are what most people remember and what you get paid for. But I learned more from my failures than from all of my successes put together - failures as an athlete and as a person.
looks shirt somebody tony wearing worry
Somebody said the shirt I was wearing looks like a dress, and Tony told me, 'Don't worry, I got your back,'
good
Nowadays, to be a good world-ranked decathlete, you need to be good at everything.
ability attributes behind competing losses love playing
I just love playing so much, competing so much. You're able to put your losses behind you. One of the greatest attributes a decathlete can have is the ability to forget... to look ahead, not behind.