Dan O’Brien won an Olympic gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games (1996). He is triple decathlon World champion (1991, 1993, 1995) and a former World Record holder (8891 points scored in Talence 1992).
Steve Fritz missed an Olympic medal by 20 points in Atlanta (1996). He had finished the best competition of his life, scoring 8644 points. That got him 4th place.
Diverted off the troubled path of his childhood, Bryan Clay went on to become one of the most decorated decathletes of all time. He won an Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games (2008) and became decathlon World champion in Helsinki 2005.
The Decathlon's nice in that you get to know the other athletes. It's almost like everyone helps each other out. We're all out there trying to win, but at the same time there's a friendship there too. It's always fun going to meets and catching up with the other guys - Tom Pappas