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
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.
communication athlete successful
When first starting to work with someone you try to get them in the same mindset that you were in when you were successful, and I realized the best thing you can ever do is realize that they are not you. They have a different persona and mindset, and you have to figure out what works best within your communication with that athlete.
chameleon
I call myself a chameleon.
writing winter house
You can only look forward to a South Dakota winter if, as with childbirth, remodeling a house, or writing a novel, you're able to forget how bad it was the last time.
fun athlete winning
As a young athlete, it was first about having fun; then it was about winning.
rocks get-better rolling
And there is such a thing as a decathlon high. It's like a rock rolling down hill, picking up momentum. You get better and better.
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.
hang overcome perseverance
The only way to overcome is to hang in.
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.
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.
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.