Athletes - Dan O'Brien

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	Athletes - Dan O'Brien

Daniel Dion ("Dan") O'Brien (born July 18, 1966 in Portland, Oregon) is an American decathlete. He is deemed to be one of the best decathlon athletes of the 1990s. In 1992 he set a world record of 8,891 points, but failed to qualify for that year's Olympics when he failed to clear a height in the pole vault during the decathlon in the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Dan O'Brien grew up as an adopted child in an Irish-American family in Oregon. He is an alumnus of the University of Idaho, where he competed in track and field, although not in the decathlon. His name is attached to the university's outdoor track and field venue, where he quietly trained for his Olympic and world championships.

He was awarded gold medals at the 1991, 1993, and 1995 World Championships in Athletics. He also won an Olympic gold medal for decathlon in the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Four years earlier, in 1992, O'Brien appeared with U.S. rival Dave Johnson in a popular TV advertising campaign for Reebok. The commercials entitled "Dan and Dave," were meant to build interest in Reebok and the decathletes, culminating in the 1992 Olympics. At the Olympic trials, O'Brien voluntarily passed on the lower heights in the pole vault, then failed in his first three attempts, resulting in no points for the event, and ultimately, did not qualify for the Olympics. His unexpected failure to qualify received enormous attention; Reebok adjusted by running new ads featuring him cheering on Dave, who did qualify.

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

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