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 perfect safety
I think what my parents did was perfect. They were strict, concerned about my safety and held me back just a little.
single-life scissors knows
I always know where the scissors are.
dream winning jail
Through everything I've gone through- and I've been everywhere, at the top of the world, in jail, hung over drunk - I never gave up my dream of winning a gold medal in the Olympics.
hype cereal breakfast
When I was little, I wasn't allowed to put sugar on my breakfast cereal because it made me so hyper.
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.
hang overcome perseverance
The only way to overcome is to hang in.
failure
I've always had to have some kind of failure before I was successful.
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 good pole
After the failure in '92, my goal was to be a good pole vaulter. I used that as motivation.
morning mean gold
It really means a lot that I won the gold medal - but I woke up the next morning expecting to feel different. I felt the same.
thinking race important
It's important for me to think I'm mixed-race.
matter events just-one
The decathlon includes ten separate events and they all matter. You can't work on just one of them.
limits pushing shapes
There is nothing better than having a personal-best day, being in shape and pushing myself beyond my own limits.
distance athlete men
You need to become more than one type of athlete. You have to be a sprinter, a weight man and a distance guy all in one.