Clearing Hurdles: The Quest to be the World's Greatest Athlete by Dan
O’Brien and Brad Botkin, is the story of O’Brien’s life. Dan O'Brien won the
Gold Medal for the decathlon in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta. Biographies and
autobiographies are not going to be very interesting if the subject in question
has led a charmed life throughout with few challenges to overcome. It is the
bad things that have happened in their lives, the journey overcoming the odds,
that make the story interesting. Dan O'Brien certainly had his share of “interesting.”.
Dan was an
orphan. He was biracial living in a conservative small town. He did get adopted
and that was a stoke of good luck. His family was poor but relatively happy. He
went to college in Idaho and was not ready to be on his own in the world. He
partied. He struck up a fond relationship with alcohol. He had shown great
athletic promise in high school and had gotten a scholarship at the University
of Idaho, but it wasn’t long before he rendered himself academically
ineligible.
You have
probably heard similar stories before. Bad decision leads to problems which
leads to drinking which leads to more bad decisions which lead to more
drinking. For many people, this is the end
of the story. A cycle that leads to oblivion. But some learn to overcome their self-destructive tendencies. At
some point it hit home where his life was headed and he turned it around (with
the help of some very good coaches). He started making a name for himself.
Reebok
signed him as part of their marketing campaign. Do you remember the “Dan and
Dave” commercials from the 1990’s? He was the Dan. The commercials always ended
with the tag line: “to be settled in Barcelona.” Meaning that the 1992
Barcelona Olympics would crown Dan or Dave (Johnson) as the world’s greatest
athlete depending on which one won the gold medal. Things didn’t work out in
Barcelona. You will have to read the book to find out why. Dan’s life was full
of highs and lows, and that was one of the lows.
Eventually,
things worked out though, as things usually do for people who are asked to
write their autobiography. Thus, we have a book that through Dan’s experiences
give us a powerful message: don’t give up when bad things happen to you. Use
them to learn and grow. You can find strength you didn’t know you had. You
might not win a gold medal at the Olympics, but you might surprise yourself
(and those people along the way who told you to give it up).
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