Daniel Dion O'Brien (born July 18, 1966) is an American former

decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word " pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or � ...

and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medalist. He won the Olympic title in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, three consecutive

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

), and set the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in 1992.

Early life

O'Brien was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

in 1966. He is of

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

heritage, and grew up as an adopted child in an

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

family in

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was ...

. 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 O'Brien scoring all points. He earned four individual gold medals winning the 110 meter high hurdles, 300 meter hurdles, long jump and 100 yard dash. He then attended the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he competed in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

for the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

. After initially flunking out of the university and then incurring legal difficulties, O'Brien attended

Spokane Falls Community College Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) is a public community college in Spokane, Washington. It was established in 1967 and is part of the Community Colleges of Spokane. History The land upon which SFCC is located was given to the city after ...

, a community college in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

in 1987-1988. He returned to the UI to compete for the Vandal track and complete his bachelor's O'Brien trained for his Olympic and world championships on the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primar ...

under Idaho's track coach Mike Keller, and Rick Sloan of

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

in neighboring Pullman for the field 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

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, behind Dave Johnson.

Career

Olympics

As the 1991 world champion, O'Brien entered the Olympic year of

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

as the favorite to win gold in the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and be proclaimed as the "world's greatest athlete." However, during the U.S. Olympic Trials at

Tad Gormley Stadium Tad Gormley Stadium (originally City Park Stadium) is a 26,500 seat multi-purpose outdoor stadium, located in City Park, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The stadium is home to the University of New Orleans Privateers men's and women's track and field ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

in late June, O'Brien had a disaster in the eighth event, the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the M ...

. After passing at the first four (lower) heights, O'Brien entered the competition at , 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 held in France a few weeks after the Olympics ended. 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

champion, in a popular TV

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

for

Reebok Reebok International Limited () is an American fitness footwear and clothing manufacturer that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company ...

. The series of commercials, entitled " Dan & 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. O'Brien regrouped and set a world record of 8,891 points in early September in Talence, France. His marks were as follows: 100 meters in 10.43 seconds (with a tailwind); Long Jump 26 ft 6¼ in (8.08 m); Shot Put 54 ft 9¼ in (16.69 m); High Jump 6 ft 9½ in (2.07 m); 400 meters 48.51 seconds, for a first day total of 4,720 points; Day two 110 Meter High Hurdles in 13.98 seconds; Discus 159 ft 4 inches (48.56m); Pole Vault 16 ft 4¾ in (5.00 m); Javelin 205 ft 4 in (62.58m); 1,500 meter run in 4 minutes 42.10 seconds = total 8,891 points). This stood as the

until 1999, and the American record for nearly twenty years, until

Ashton Eaton Ashton James Eaton (born January 21, 1988) is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the indoor heptathlon event. Eaton was the second decathlete (after Roman Šebrle) to break the 9,000-point ...

broke it in 2012 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, ...

. O'Brien was in attendance at

Hayward Field Hayward Field is a track and field stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. It has been the home of the university's track and field teams since 1921, and was the on-campus ho ...

and congratulated Eaton shortly after he completed the 1500 meters for a new world record of 9,039 points. At the Olympics in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, O'Brien won the gold medal with 8,824 points, 118 ahead of runner-up

Frank Busemann Frank Busemann (; born 26 February 1975 in Recklinghausen) is a former German decathlete. He currently works as a pundit for athletics coverage by German TV channel Das Erste. Busemann started his career as a 110 m hurdler and was junior wor ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. After a break from competition, he won the Goodwill Games title in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, held east of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

, his eleventh consecutive win since 1992. A

plantar fascia The plantar fascia is the thick connective tissue (aponeurosis) which supports the arch on the bottom (plantar side) of the foot. It runs from the tuberosity of the calcaneus (heel bone) forward to the heads of the metatarsal bones (the bone b ...

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.

Other athletics

O'Brien broke the world record for the fastest game of

hopscotch Hopscotch is a popular playground game in which players toss a small object, called a lagger, into numbered triangles or a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces and retrieve the object. It is a ch ...

Chelsea Piers Chelsea Piers is a series of piers in Chelsea, on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located to the west of the West Side Highway ( Eleventh Avenue) and Hudson River Park and to the east of the Hudson River, they were originally a ...

on May 7, 2009. He established a record of 81 seconds, breaking the old mark by two seconds. Shortly following the 2010 MLB season, O'Brien began working with

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

third baseman

Pablo Sandoval Pablo Emilio Sandoval Reyes (born August 11, 1986) is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball third baseman for the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, ...

, in an effort to help the struggling slugger lose weight.

Modeling/Product endorsements

In the late 1990s, Dan O'Brien appeared in ads for Italian designer

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as ...

Literature

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" ().

Podcast

O'Brien and Dave Johnson are the subject of (and participants in) the ESPN Radio 30 for 30 podcast "The Trials of Dave and Dan

Personal life

O'Brien has been a resident of the Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix area since 1997, relocating from northern Idaho. 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.

Honors and awards

O'Brien won the Olympic

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

for decathlon at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, and also won gold medals at the

, and

1995 World Championships in Athletics The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 5–13 August 1995. This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nat ...

. Shortly after his gold medal performance at the 1996 Olympics, O'Brien was honored with "Dan O'Brien Day" by the state of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

and a parade by the city of

in mid-August. O'Brien was inducted into the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 2005, along with Dave Johnson. He was inducted into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, ...

in 2006, the University of Idaho Sports Hall of Fame with the large inaugural class of 2007, and the

United States Olympic Hall of Fame United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

in 2012. A street in Klamath Falls was named for him 1996, and Henley High School honored O'Brien by renaming its football field after the athlete in 2010. The University of Idaho's outdoor track and field venue was named for O'Brien in 1996. The complex underwent a $2.5 million renovation in 2011–12, and he was on hand in Moscow in May 2012 to rededicate it.

References

The Portland Tribune The ''Portland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Pamplin Media Group, which publishes a number of community newspapers in the Portland metropolitan area. Launched in ...

'' - 07-Oct-2005
Biggest sports busts -- ESPN Page 2

Video

YouTube
– Reebok Commercials - Dan and Dave - 1992
YouTube
– World Record, from French television broadcast (1992)
FloTrack.org
– Dan O'Brien reflects (2012) {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Dan 1966 births Living people African-American male track and field athletes American male decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics American people of Finnish descent Track and field athletes from Idaho People from Klamath Falls, Oregon Idaho Vandals men's track and field athletes American adoptees Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from Portland, Oregon Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Arizona State Sun Devils track and field coaches World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople