Dan O'Brien Quotes

• As a young athlete, it was first about having fun; then it was about winning.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Fun, Winning

• 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.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Better

• I think what my parents did was perfect. They were strict, concerned about my safety and held me back just a little.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Concerned

• As a young child, I was never a crier. I never cried to get my way, or even when I was in pain.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Cried

• I call myself a chameleon.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Call

• 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.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Really

• It took me time to realize that the men who won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon are just men, just like me.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Time

• If you never give up, you’ll be successful.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Successful

• It’s important for me to think I’m mixed-race.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Important

• Take pride in exactly what it is you do and remember it’s okay to fail as long as you don’t give up.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Pride

• The decathlon includes ten separate events and they all matter. You can’t work on just one of them.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Work

  Tags in Matter, Events

• 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.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Winning

• To me, the decathlon is its own little society and I am part of that culture.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Society

• There is nothing better than having a personal-best day, being in shape and pushing myself beyond my own limits.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Best, Better

• When I was little, I wasn’t allowed to put sugar on my breakfast cereal because it made me so hyper.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Breakfast

• You have to be able to be a good loser. You have to be okay knowing you’re going to fail every day in something without getting mad and upset.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Good, Loser

• 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.

  Dan O'Brien

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Guy

Dan O'Brien (17)

Birth:	18th July, 1966
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Athlete

About

Dan O'Brien is an American athlete. A decathlete, his 1990s achievements in the decathlon included the winning of an Olympic gold medal in 1996, and, previous to that, three consecutive titles at the World Championships in Athletics.

Related Authors

• Carl Lewis
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee
• Mary Decker
• Libby Trickett
• Jesse Owens
• Niki Lauda
• Nick Ferguson
• Trevor Brooking
• Hope Solo
• Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Advertisement

Today's Anniversary - 10th December

Births

• 1941 - Tommy Kirk
• 1891 - Nelly Sachs
• 1805 - William Lloyd Garrison
• 1987 - Ben Nicholas
• 1913 - Morton Gould

Deaths

• 1968 - Thomas Merton
• 2005 - Richard Pryor
• 1909 - Red Cloud
• 1951 - Algernon Blackwood
• 1936 - Luigi Pirandello