Dan O'Brien Quotes & Sayings

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

#2. 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

#3. I got interested in decathlon because a coach that I had was a big fan of Bruce Jenner, and he just saw the ability in me - but when it came down to it, I knew my best chance at a college scholarship would be in track and field.

Dan O'Brien

#4. 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

#5. I just love playing so much, competing so much. You're able to put your losses behind you. One of the greatest attributes a decathlete can have is the ability to forget ... to look ahead, not behind.

Dan O'Brien

#6. Breaking the world record in '92 was a very special personal moment, but I'd say my favorite moment as a decathlete was winning the Olympic gold medal.

Dan O'Brien

#7. It's important for me to think I'm mixed-race.

Dan O'Brien

#8. 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

#9. I was playing little league baseball when Bruce Jenner was winning the gold, but I don't think I was really paying attention at that time. It wasn't until 1980 - I think I was 12 years old - that I thought, 'Wow that's what I want to do. I want to be on the Olympic team.'

Dan O'Brien

#10. I've always had to have some kind of failure before I was successful.

Dan O'Brien

#11. 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

#12. If you never give up, you'll be successful.

Dan O'Brien

#13. When my world record got broken in 1999, it hurt a little bit, to say the least. But I was in a leg brace at the time and I had just had knee surgery and I couldn't do anything about it.

Dan O'Brien

#14. 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

#15. 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.

Dan O'Brien

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

Dan O'Brien

#17. 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

#18. After the failure in '92, my goal was to be a good pole vaulter. I used that as motivation.

Dan O'Brien

#19. 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

#20. 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

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

Dan O'Brien

#22. We'll probably only consider a handful of individuals. We'll bring up people who can accumulate either innings or at-bats, so we can hopefully gauge where they stand as a prospective Major Leaguer.

Dan O'Brien

#23. Nowadays, to be a good world-ranked decathlete, you need to be good at everything.

Dan O'Brien

#24. Try everything, because you're never sure what you're going to be great at.

Dan O'Brien

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

Dan O'Brien

#26. I was a good decathlete until I got with a coach that really knew how to train specifically for the event ... I'd really describe it as like being a juggler; you have ten balls and you're trying to get them all in the air at the same time.

Dan O'Brien

#27. 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.

Dan O'Brien