' The Olympic trials,' Dan explains, ' was a track meet where all I had to do was go and mark in
every event. I didn' t have to win. I didn' t have to set a world record. I just had to get a mark in
every event and I would be in the Olympic team.'
O' Brien showed glimpses of his future as he finished the first day' s events with a world record 4698
points, 463 clear of his closest rival. On the second day however, a few inches ended his Olympic
dreams.
' I ran into a real mental block,' he says, remembering how he failed to clear his opening height of
4.8m (15' 9") in the pole vault. ' That was the first time that I had experienced any kind of setback. I
was in disbelief that something like that could happen to somebody as well prepared as myself. I
cleared 16' 1" in warm-ups, from the way I was practicing it seemed like a safe height. I wasn' t
thinking about a world record, it just happened. My first feeling was, "Hey, somebody do
something."'
Looking back O' Brien says, ' It really took the support of my family and friends to help me
understand that it was just part of the process. Through all of that I realised that I don' t do this for
the glory of it all, I do it because I love the training and the competition.'
To help cope with the disappointments of the trials and refocus upon his sport, Dan got straight
back into competing. One month after the Barcelona Olympics he was lining up in the DecaStar
Meet in Talence, France, standing alongside the man who had won the gold medal, Robert Zmelik.
The Czech hoped to beat O' Brien and prove to the world that he could lay claim to the title of
' World' s Greatest Athlete' , b ut after the first 100m he realised his dreams were just that. Dan
continued to excel and by the close of the first day had again amassed a world record number of
points, scoring 4720, 452 points ahead of Zmelik.
His form continued into the second day, but not without an aberration as he came up against the
pole vault. Failing to clear 4.60m (15' 1"), the nightmare of the trials in New Orleans began to
resurface. Fortunately he left that behind and went on to vault 5.00m (16' 4.75").
By the end of the day O' Brien needed to run 4:49 in the 1500m to beat Briton Daley Thompson' s
world record. ' The 1500m,' he says, ' was one of the most agonising things that I have ever gone
through. I was just happy to be standing afterwards.' But the pain was worth it was he cr ossed the
line in 4:42.10 to set a new decathlon world record of 8891 points, bettering Thompson' s mark by
forty-seven points.
'There was really no joy in it,' he continues, 'until about one minute had passed after I'd crossed the
line - that's the way I think all 1500m races should be. You are just physically exhausted, and at
that moment you don't care what's happened, you're just happy that you've finished. As I regained
my strength and composure it dawned on me that it was all worth it - the pain, the harsh experience,
the stress - it's all worth it.'
'I would honestly have to say that the world record was a sheer act of desperation. I needed it to not
only help myself regain confidence, but to really help my ego. Because I had been so successful up
until that time, I needed it to regain confidence in my training, my program, and my abilities. When
I broke the world record it was one of the most gratifying moments that I have ever experienced.
Those are the moments that you remember forever. When you're all alone in the bathroom, and
you're looking at yourself in the mirror, you can smile knowing that you broke the world record and
you did something that nobody else in the world has ever done.'
Dan O'Brien grew up in Oregon where he was adopted, and loved sport - competing in athletics,
and playing baseball, basketball and gridiron. In his senior year at Henley High School he was the
top gridiron wide receiver in Oregon, catching twenty-one balls for 552 yards and nine touchdowns
in just nine games. He was also the leading scorer and rebounder for his basketball team, and at the
state athletics meet he won the 100m, 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles and long jump.
Dan loved sport, but unfortunately his high involvement in it effected his grades. Ironical what
looked like interrupting his sporting life indirectly led him to competing in the decathlon. 'My
parents were very strict,' he explains, 'and they said that if I didn't hold a C average, I wasn't
allowed to participate in track and field. In my tenth grade in high school I received a D in Social
Studies, and I didn't run track and field, but they were holding a decathlon in the summertime when
school was over. The coach asked my father if I could participate, and because it was in the
summertime my father said it was ok. That was my first decathlon.'
In 1984, O'Brien's final year of school, he was voted by Track & Field News as the top high school
decathlete of the year. But he had not yet learnt to appreciate what made the decathlon special. 'It
felt good receiving the honour,' he says, 'but I still didn't consider myself a decathlete. I still wanted
to be Carl Lewis, a 100m and Long Jump guy. I always had dreams of being the next great
American sprinter. I don't think it was until about 1988 or 1989 that I really called myself a
decathlete. And as soon as I started calling myself a decathlete, then I started to be a lot more
successful.'
The decathlon is now O'Brien's sport, and he knows why he likes it. 'I like the personal challenge,'
he says. 'The fact that when you go out there you are competing against yourself, and not so much
the other competitors.'
'I think that the decathlon is an emotional event. You deal a lot with anxiety and fear, because
you're dealing with events that you're not thoroughly familiar with and that are physically hard. A
lot of the time you are dealing with your own fears, and that is one of the biggest opponents.'
'Perseverance is crucial in the decathlon. I think you have to be a good loser, because when you
first start you fail so many times, especially when you're working on events that you're not very
familiar with. You really fail a lot of different times, and you have to leave that day with an
understanding that a lot of times you're going to show incompetence in many different areas, and
realise and understand that it takes a long time to develop the skills to compete at a high level.'
After leaving high school and the security of his home for the University of Idaho, O'Brien lost his
focus. 'In high school I had a very structured life,' he says. 'When I got to college it was my first
time away from home and I found socialising and partying to be just a bit more fun than academics,
and even track and field. The amazing thing is that I say I partied a lot in college, but I don't think
that I partied any more seriously than a lot of student athletes did. My biggest challenge was that I
wasn't meeting the demands academically. I had friends who were in track and field, and on the
golf team and stuff, who partied just as much as I did, but they were making grades and I wasn't.'
With 0.6 Grade Point Average (GPA), and having been academically ineligible for four years, Dan
was convinced to get his act together. He transferred to Spokane Community College in 1988 and
raised his GPA to 1.8. With the help of his coach, Mike Keller, O'Brien was reaccepted into the
University of Idaho in 1989.
As well as regaining his academic focus, Dan refocused upon the decathlon. 'I think the main thing
was that before regaining my focus I really had to miss the decathlon. I can remember going to
track practice everyday for a month and watching other people run and compete, and thinking how
bad I wanted to do that. It really took some serious steps to get my schooling back in order, my
eligibility back, and to become a decathlete.'
Since 1989 Dan O'Brien has become one of the best athletes in the history of the decathlon, having
many amazing days on the track and in the field. He has not lost a decathlon since missing the pole
vault in the 1992 Olympic Trials. And even though his world record was beaten by Tomas Dvorak
in July, 1999, at the European Cup in Prague, O'Brien is not bothered - he looks forward to taking
Dvorak on in head to head competition.
Along with the world record that lasted seven years, Dan ranks his gold medal at the 1996
Olympics as a special moment in his career. 'The Olympic trials in 1996 was pretty stressful,' he
says, 'because obviously I didn't want to make the same mistake as in 1992. I put a lot of pressure
on myself to take the Olympic trials even more seriously than the Olympic games, just to get on
that team. I've always just taken one step at a time, whether it was a world championship or an US
championship or an Olympic Games, I never looked too far ahead. I'm training for my next
competition, never for anything beyond the next step.'
Winning the decathlon at the Olympic trials earned O'Brien his spot in the team, and competing in
those games is something that he will never forget. 'To go out and compete in the Olympic stadium
was awesome, especially during the Olympic Games because we had big crowds.'
After nine events Dan held a 209-point lead over second placed German, Frank Buseman. He
needed to only finish within thirty-two seconds of Buseman in the 1500m to take the gold.
'I walked out into the stadium for the 1500m and there's 80,000 people in the stands. My brother, I
don't know how he did it, somehow managed to jump over the barriers and come almost completely
out onto the field. He and I had about thirty seconds together, and we prayed before I ran.'
The gun fired and one of the most important races of O'Brien's life began. With 150m to go he new
that he was going to win the decathlon, willing himself down the final straight, finishing 14.48
seconds behind Buseman, but with an Olympic record 8824 points.
The champion was overwhelmed with emotion. 'After the race was over I got down on a knee and
thanked God, and it just brought me to tears. I know that I would not have been there without him.'
'By the time I got to the victory stand I had laughed, I had cried, I had run my victory lap, taken a
drug test, and so all I could do was smile. I was very happy. Also because it took me another four
years to win a medal it was relief that things had gone the way that I had hoped and had pictured
them every day in practice.'
For O'Brien, faith plays an important role in his life. 'My faith has been a lot like my athletic
career,' he says, 'it's had strong moments and it's had moments where it has been pretty much nonexistent.
I was raised in the church and all through junior high and high school I attended church
weekly and learnt a lot of things weekly in the Bible. I went to church basically because my family
went to church. As I got out of high school and went to college I seemed to abandon by faith, I was
partying a lot and not really thinking about it much. Then in 1992 my brother came to live with me
in Moscow, Idaho. My brother is a very spiritual person. He got me re-examining my ability to hold
a daily conversation with God, and have a personal relationship. That was hard for me to do
because it had been such a long time since I had done it. It wasn't until he came to live with me that
I reestablished a relationship with God.'
Dan's relationship with God also helps him deal with the pressures of his sport. 'Track and field is a
scary and sometimes painful experience, and anytime I was scared and had to draw strength from
somewhere, it was very easy for me to do that. Especially as I went into the 1996 Olympics, my
brother was there, and I was feeling extremely stressed beforehand. I would go to him for guidance
and we would pray, and I would feel much better. There is no doubt in my mind who I was drawing
strength from through all the Olympic trials and the Olympic Games.'
Since winning the Olympic gold in 1996, O’Brien has completed only one decathlon, when he won
gold at the 1998 Goodwill Games. Dan’s career has been marked by its highs and lows, from
records and medals to injuries and disappointment, the latest at the 2000 Olympic trials.
As in 1992, the Olympic trials should have posed little threat to O’Brien, everyone expecting that
America’s best decathlete would breeze through the competition and fix his eyes on defending his
Olympic crown. But as in 1992, not everything went as planned.
While practicing high jump a week before the competition, Dan felt something pop in his foot. A
MRI scan confirmed his fears, a sixty-percent tear to connective tissue on the bottom of his left
foot. ‘It's heartbreaking. I'm in shock,’ he said when announcing his withdrawal from the trials, his
only chance at Olympic selection. ‘I think this hurts even worse than what happened in '92.’
With the determination that has characterised his career, O’Brien tried everything he could to
compete. ‘I got a big pain-killing shot, taped up the foot and ankle just furiously, as tight as I could,
and it hurts too much even to jog at this point,’ he said at a news conference. ‘A couple of times I
thought, “To hell with it, just go for it.” But I can' t even take three or four steps without having to
stop. It' s that painful.’
Despite the setback and being thirty-four, Dan is not finished. ‘It' s hard to think about the future
right now but I know for sure I' m not finished,’ he said. ‘I want to get healthy. I want to have a
season. I want to run in some indoor meets. I want to challenge 9,000 points.’
O’Brien is confident in the knowledge that he is not alone, but that God has a plan for his life and
that he can rely on him. ' Whene ver I have been the most stressed out, feeling the most sorry for
myself, before a competition or as I get close to a major competition, when things get too tough,
I' ve always turned to the people around me, and we together have always turned to Christ.'
Dan O’Brien
