THE last act of an epic morality tale begins today. Dan O'Brien sets out to conquer the decathlon.
You will remember Dan. He is the man whose 1992 Olympic adventure was promoted by Reebok to the tune of $25 million. He is the man who failed to qualify for the Olympics, the guy who failed to successfully complete so much as one pole vault at the US Olympic trials. Yeah. You remember Dan.
In May, it began again for Dan O'Brien. US Olympic trials. Atlanta. An entire stadium absolutely silent as he limbered up for his first attempt on the pole vault, attempting a height scarcely any more ambitious than that which a good high jumper would clear. He skimmed over.
Perhaps the man who has been almost unbeatable in this most grueling of events for five years is now about to receive the validation of an Olympic gold medal.
O'Brien is an athlete who has always been making up ground. Born of and abandoned by mixed race parents, he was adopted as a baby into a large multi-ethnic family in Oregon. He grew up talented but undisciplined. He partied too much in college and got himself kicked out of the University of Idaho, losing his athletics scholarship.
He turned 30 the day before the Atlanta Games began and, at last, appreciates that the events of the next couple of days will define the way history judges him as an athlete. An immature tearaway who couldn't hack it or the guy who rebuilt himself and his career. The world won't remember his word record in the event. It will celebrate his gold medal should he win one, however.
"All I ever wanted was for people to think that was the world's greatest decathlete," he says, "but people aren't paying attention until the Olympics. So the Olympics are different. You know you aren't in Kansas anymore, Dorothy!"
He puts on a good show does Dan. He bounces about, claps, waves his arms to agitate sleepy crowds. If adrenalin was a banned drug, he'd be done for possession and the crowd would be charged with trafficking.
Since the 1992 disaster he has employed the services of a sports psychologist, Jimmy Reardon, who he says has enabled him to free up his mind and focus on one event at a time, one moment at a time. Reardon has even followed O'Brien around to meets, heckling him and laying other upsets, surprises and distractions in his path. O'Brien has dealt with everything implacably.
The preparation should start paying off today. O'Brien would like to break his own world record of 8,891 points as well as claiming gold here. His big events are the speed-based ones. He runs well in the 100 and 400 metres races and jumps convincingly in the long jump pit and over the high jump bar.
Going into day two, sheer speed will skim him over the 100 metres hurdles and he should manage respectability in the discus. Event eight is the pole vault and the drama of his first attempt should silence the Atlanta crowd once again. It's not that he's a bad pole vaulter, it's just the indelibile mark that the previous trauma has left.
