O'Brien was born in Portland, Oregon in 1966. He is of African American and Finnish heritage,[3] and grew up as an adopted child in an Irish-American family in Klamath Falls.[4] 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.[3] He then attended the University of Idaho in Moscow, where he competed in track and field for the Vandals.[5] After initially flunking out of the university and then incurring legal difficulties,[4][6] O'Brien attended Spokane Falls Community College, a community college in Spokane, Washington in 1987-1988.[7] He returned to the UI to compete for the Vandal track team,[5][8] and complete his bachelor's degree.[9][10]
As the 1991 world champion, O'Brien entered the Olympic year of 1992 as the favorite to win gold in the decathlon in Barcelona and be proclaimed as the "world's greatest athlete." 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 (lower) heights, O'Brien entered the competition at 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m), 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.[21][22] 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.[23]
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.[24] The series of commercials, entitled "Dan & Dave," were meant to build interest in Reebok and the decathletes, culminating in the Olympics in Barcelona.[25] 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.[26][27][28][29] 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 world record until 1999,[30] and the American record for nearly twenty years, until Ashton Eaton broke it in 2012 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. O'Brien was in attendance at Hayward Field and congratulated Eaton shortly after he completed the 1500 meters for a new world record of 9,039 points.[31]
At the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, O'Brien won the gold medal with 8,824 points, 118 ahead of runner-up Frank Busemann of Germany.[32][33][34] After a break from competition, he won the Goodwill Games title in 1998, held east of New York City on Long Island, his eleventh consecutive win since 1992.[35] 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.[36][37] Injuries continued and prevented his return to the Olympic trials in 2004.[38]
Personal bests
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
O'Brien announced his retirement from the decathlon on July 8, 2004.[39]
Other athletics
O'Brien 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.[40]
In the late 1990s, Dan O'Brien appeared in ads for Italian designer Versace.[42]
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" (ISBN978-1935628088).
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" [1]
Personal life
O'Brien has been a resident of the Phoenix area since 1997,[43] relocating from northern Idaho.[44][45] 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.
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.[45][46][47][48]
A street in Klamath Falls was named for him 1996,[52][53][54] 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,[55][56] and he was on hand in Moscow in May 2012 to rededicate it.[57][58]
^Brandon, Steve (October 7, 2005). "'Dan and Dave' reunion". Portland Tribune. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
^Rokyta, Devin (May 8, 2012). "O'Brien returns to Idaho". Orlando Sentinel. Florida. (Moscow-Pullman Daily News). Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
