Dan O'Brien is a former American Olympian who competed as a decathlete. O'Brien qualified for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and won the Gold Medal in the decathalan scoring 8,824 points. He has also taken Gold Medals at three different World Championships (1991,1993,1995). O'Brien competed in the 1993 Toronto World Indoor Championships where he also won Gold in the heptathlon.
The former Olympian would go on to release a book in 2012 about his struggles as a track and field star and overcoming those hurdles. He was also featured in an ESPN 30 for 30 podcast alongside former competitor Dave Johnson. Dan O'Brien would be recognized for his achievments by being inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2005, National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2006, and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 2012.