Sports fans across the world watched Dan O’Brien winning the 1996 Summer Olympic Games Gold Medal in the Decathlon, to be officially considered the “World’s Greatest Athlete.” Today, his name is synonymous with athletic achievement and success both on and off the field. He is an inspirational leader and motivational force for millions of people across the world.
Adopted at the age of two, and raised in a home with seven other children of racially mixed backgrounds, O’Brien has overcome many adversities throughout his life. And with a great deal of self-determination and commitment, he has become one of the most successful and dominant athletes in the history of sports.
At the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, O’Brien overcame almost insurmountable odds. Four years prior, on Super Bowl Sunday early in 1992, Reebok introduced its unprecedented ‘Dan and Dave’ campaign, a series of entertaining TV and print ads featuring Dan O’Brien and rival Dave Johnson, debating who would take the title as the “World’s Greatest Athlete” in Barcelona.
This publicity also provided for one of the most publicized failures in sports history when O’Brien “no-heighted” in the pole vault and failed to qualify for the 1992 U. S. Olympic team to Barcelona.
Birth and Growth
Daniel Dion O’Brien was born in Portland, Oregon, USA on July 18, 1966. He is of African American and Finnish heritage, and grew up as an adopted child in Klamath Falls. He attended Henley High School graduating in 1984. At the Oregon High School State Championships, he led his team to a team runner-up finish with him scoring all points.
He earned four individual gold medals winning the 110m high hurdles, 300m hurdles, long jump and 100-yard dash. He then attended the University of Idaho in Moscow, where he competed in track and field for the Vandals. After initially failing and then incurring legal difficulties with the university, O’Brien attended Spokane Falls Community College, a community college in Spokane, Washington in 1987-1988.
He returned to the Idaho to compete for the Vandal track team, and complete his bachelor’s degree. O’Brien trained for his Olympic and world championships on the Palouse under Idaho’s track coach Mike Keller, and Rick Sloan of Washington State University in neighboring Pullman for the field events.
O’Brien competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1988; after a fast time in the 100 meters, he was injured in the long jump and withdrew. He took second place at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle behind Dave Johnson.
World Championships in Tokyo
The 1991 World Championships is remembered by the famous long jump duel between Carl Lewis and Mike Powell. Lewis had not lost a long jump competition in a decade and he produced a jump of 8.91m (wind-aided), as well as a legal mark of 8.87m. One of the fiercest battles in the history ended with Mike Powell breaking the world record and winning with a leap of 8.95m.
Re-visiting the archives reveals another inspiring story, perhaps completely untold, and comes in the form of a young, talented athlete. Then, he was totally new to the international decathlon stage. And the inspiring story of Dan O’Brien’s entry to the world track and field arena goes as follows.
O’Brien was ready to show himself to the world. He stood 188 cm in height and weighed 84 kgs. After two false starts in his heat, he opened the competition in the 100m with 10.41 into a headwind. He led the field by 77 points. He was off to a good start.
Then a massive 7.90m long lump without even touching the board followed. Then he hurled a personal best of 16.24m in the shot put. At this point, many experts wondered if it’s even possible to catch this kind of performer. O’Brien seemed to be surfing on his own wave.
Then he safely opened the high jump competition with 1.91, as he was capable of heights at around 2.10m. The next height for him seemed to be unnecessary, and he passed to 1.97.What happened next was unimaginable. He missed all three attempts and was left with just his open height of 1.91.
As he had been smoothly finishing the first three events of the competition, the performance in high jump may have discouraged him. Perhaps this could have been his competition of a lifetime. For example, 2.09 would have provided with extra 163 points. That’s the beauty of the decathlon.
What he did next was not weak and sorrow filled effort. He exploded and ran a blazing 400m clocking 46.53 sec and finished the first day with 4602 points.
O’Brien kept rolling in a safe and solid manner on the hot and humid 2nd day and finished strong with a new personal best in the 1500m as well as a new championship record as well as personal best in the decathlon of 8812 points at the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo in Japan.
U. S. Olympic Trials 1992
O’Brien entered the Olympic year of 1992 as the favorite to win gold in the decathlon in Barcelona. However, during the U.S. Olympic Trials at Tad Gormley Stadium in New Orleans in late June, O’Brien had a disaster in the eighth event, the pole vault.
After passing at the first four heights, O’Brien entered the competition at 4.80m, and failed to clear the bar on all three attempts. As a result, he scored no points and dropped from first to eleventh place among the 24 decathletes. He did not make the Olympic team for Barcelona, but he continued to train for the competition scheduled in France a few weeks after the Olympic Games.
O’Brien’s “no height” in the pole vault was also a financial embarrassment for his main corporate sponsor, and for NBC television which was heavily promoting the upcoming Olympics. He appeared with U.S. rival Dave Johnson, the Goodwill Games champion, in a popular TV advertising campaign for Reebok.
The series of commercials, entitled “Dan and Dave,” were meant to build interest in Reebok and the decathletes, culminating in the Olympics in Barcelona. O’Brien’s unexpected failure in New Orleans received considerable attention; Reebok adjusted by running new ads featuring him cheering on Dave, who went on to win the bronze medal.
World Record in Decathlon
Dan O’Brien set a new world record in Decathlon with 8,891 points, on September 5, 1992 in Talence, France, bettering Daley Thompson’s August 9, 1984 record of 8847 points.
O’Brien’s marks on the first day were as follows: 100 meters in 10.43 sec (with a tailwind); Long Jump 8.08m; Shot Put 16.69m; High Jump 2.07m; 400m 48.51 sec, for a first day total of 4,720 points. Then on the second day: 110m Hurdles in 13.98 sec; Discus 48.56m; Pole Vault 5.00m; Javelin 62.58m; 1,500m in 4: 42.10 sec.
This stood as the world record until 1999 and the American record for nearly twenty years, until Ashton Eaton broke it in 2012 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, USA. O’Brien was in attendance and congratulated Eaton shortly after he established the new world record.
O’Brien won 1993 World Championships in Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart in Germany with 8817 points. He also stepped out of the decathlon to compete heptathlon at the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships held at the Skydome, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and won the title with a world record of 6476 points on March 14, 1993.
His success at the national level also earned him another distinction as his five championships tied him with Bill Toomey for the most ever in the history of the meet. Then, secured the gold at the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia and followed up with the 1995 World Championships in at Ullevi Stadium, Goteborg in Sweden with 8695 points.
Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympic Games
By the time he arrived at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, Dan O’Brien’s track and field career had been defined by his missteps. The star decathlete had flunked out of college, later returned, and competed in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials before withdrawing because of an injury.
“When I went home from those Olympic trials - I didn’t make it past the second event; I had a strained hamstring going in - but I remember going home and deciding in that moment, I’m going to do the decathlon,” O’Brien said. “I’m going to be the next Bruce Jenner. And literally that’s the point my life turned.
Ramping up to the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, O’Brien was considered a gold medal favorite. Reebok made O’Brien and fellow decathlete Dave Johnson the subject of a $30 million marketing campaign.“I’ve always had to have some kind of failure before I was successful,” O’Brien said.
But disaster struck at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the pole vault. O’Brien passed on early heights and then failed in three consecutive attempts; previously in the lead after seven events, he plummeted to out of the running for a place on the Olympic team.
“For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what I was going to do,” O’Brien said a few years later. O’Brien did make it to Barcelona – as a broadcaster for NBC. But he did continued training and finally turned the corner.
On setting the new world record, he said, “I would love to have got the gold medal but this world record says that I’m worthy of the title of world’s greatest athlete.”
O’Brien launched his campaign at the Olympics Games of Atlanta 1996 as the reigning world record holder and won the gold medal with 8824 points with a clear margin of 118 points. Frank Busemann of Germany won the silver medal with 8706 points and Tomas Dvorak of Czechoslovakia secured the bronze with 8664 points. He was short of just 23 points to break the Olympic Record of 8847 points by Daley Thompson of the Great Britain.
After winning the Olympic Gold he said, “What I thought about every single day for the last four years was being up here. Perseverance does pay off. I’m very glad I stuck it out.”
After a break from competition, he won decathlon at the 1998 Goodwill Games, held east of New York City on Long Island, his eleventh consecutive win since 1992.
A plantar fascia injury to his left foot in July 2000, shortly before the U.S. Olympic Trials, caused his withdrawal and he did not defend his title. Injuries continued and prevented his return to the Olympic trials in 2004.
Achievements, Honors and Awards
In the late 1990s, O’Brien appeared in ads for Italian designer Versace. He broke the world record for the fastest game of hopscotch on Chelsea Piers on May 7, 2009. He established a record of 81 seconds, breaking the old mark by two seconds. O’Brien and Dave Johnson are the subject of the ESPN Radio 30 for 30 podcast “The Trials of Dave and Dan.”
Shortly following the 2010 MLB season, O’Brien began working with San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, in an effort to help the struggling slugger lose weight. On June 1, 2012, O’Brien released a book which was co-written with Brad Botkin, “Clearing Hurdles: The Quest to Be The World’s Greatest Athlete.”
Shortly after his gold medal performance at the 1996 Olympics, O’Brien was honored with “Dan O’Brien Day” by the state of Idaho and a parade by the city of Moscow in mid-August. The University of Idaho named its track and field facility the Dan O’Brien Track & Field Complex in 1996. Also, a street in Klamath Falls was named for him in 1996.
O’Brien was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2005, along with Dave Johnson. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2006, the University of Idaho Sports Hall of Fame with the large inaugural class of 2007. Henley High School honored O’Brien by renaming its football field after the athlete in 2010.
The United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 2012.The University of Idaho complex underwent a $2.5 million renovation in 2011–12, and he was on hand in Moscow in May 2012 to rededicate it.
Personal Life and Volunteer Services
O’Brien currently resides in Scottsdale with his wife, Leilani, and continues to speak and broadcast at events around the country. Most recently, he once again joined the CBS broadcast of the NCAA Outdoor Championships as a field reporter.
He owns Gold Medal Acceleration, a gym in Scottsdale, is a volunteer track coach at ASU, and does commentary for track and field events on television.
A native of Portland, O’Brien is no stranger to the Pac-10 Conference as he served as a volunteer assistant coach at conference rival Washington State from 1992-98. Then, in 1997, he moved to the Valley where he continued to train and compete.
Despite injuries preventing him from competing for the United States, O’Brien was a part of the two Olympiads. Working with NBC, O’Brien provided analysis for the television network’s coverage of track and field in both the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games.
Prior to his success on the international stage, O’Brien competed at the University of Idaho. In his senior campaign, he earned All-America honors by placing seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 55m hurdles. The former Vandal now has his name adorned on the home venue of his Alma mater, the Dan O’Brien Track Complex.
Dan O’Brien served as a volunteer coach on the Arizona State University track and field program, working with the multi-event athletes. Under his guidance, the athletes he has worked with have continued to show improvement both indoors and outdoors.
After working with the most successful multi-event standout in NCAA history, Jacquelyn Johnson won six national titles. The 1996 Olympic Champion will continue to turn his attention to furthering the development of a young crop of men’s decathlon participants, which, in recent years, has paid off.
The men’s multi-event athletes who excelled under O’Brien are Jamie Sandys (7,061 points), Jeremy Marcinko (6,769 points) and Austin Prince (6,779 points).On the women’s side, O’Brien also lent his knowledge to three women at the Pac-10 Championships as Samantha Henderson won the heptathlon while Keia Pinnick was second and the Christabel Nettey, in her first-ever heptathlon, finished fifth.
Dan O’Brien overcame a number of challenges, including ‘attention deficit disorder.’ He later worked as a motivational speaker, color commentator and guest analyst. He also served the United States Olympic Committee as part of its Olympic Ambassador Program to mentor younger athletes.
(The author is the winner of Presidential Awards for Sports and recipient of multiple National Accolades for Academic pursuits. He possesses a PhD, MPhil and double MSc. He can be reached at [email protected])