Athletics at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games:

Dan O’Brien had been favored in early 1992 to win the Olympic decathlon, but he failed to clear a height in the pole vault at the US Olympic Trials and did not make the Olympic team. He responded later in 1992 by breaking the world record at the Talence meet with 8,891 points. For the next four years O’Brien was dominant in the decathlon. He won the 1993 and 1995 World Championships, was TAC Champion in 1993-95, and was world-ranked #1 from 1993 to 1996. At Atlanta he won the event quite easily. He moved into the lead on day one after the shot put (the third event) and never again trailed. He led after the first day by 124 points, after winning the 400 in 46.82. He won by 118 points over Germany’s Frank Busemann, who had cleared over 8 metres in the long jump, although the outcome was never in doubt. O’Brien continued to compete and was world-ranked #1 again in 1998, but injuries eventually ended his career. The overall level of competition in 1996 was extremely high. There were six finishers over 8,500 points, 16 over 8,200, and 22 over 8,000, making this the deepest set of decathlon marks posted to that date.