Dan O’Brien
Athlete

Dan O’Brien was born on July 18, 1966 in Portland, Oregon.  The first few years of his life were spent in foster care, and then he was adopted by an Irish-American family from Klamath Falls, Oregon.  In addition to Dan, the O’Briens had two biological children and six other adopted children.  O’Brien attended Henley High School, and was a member of the track and field team while he was a student at the University of Idaho.  While at the University of Idaho, he also began training for decathlons with the head track coach, Michael Keller.

O’Brien has been called one of the world’s greatest athletes.  In addition to holding the decathlon world record, he has won three World Championships.  Although he failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in 1992, in 1996 he won the Gold Medal.  He started the Dan O’Brien Youth Foundation, which addresses issues such as education and athletics.

Information from the orphan society, wikipedia, and foster club.