Dan O’Brien finished 42nd overall (and second in his age group) in the RBC Decathlon on Sunday. His old rival, Dave Johnson, did not finish.
O’Brien and Johnson reunited to compete against each other (and more than 80 Wall Street professionals) in a unique decathlon in New York. They believed they had not gone head to head since the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials.
The 1996 Olympic decathlon champion O’Brien improved from 46th last year, accumulating 4,850 points with the following results in the 10 events:
400m run -- 1:04.21
Football throw -- 61 yards
Pull-ups -- 19 reps
40-yard dash -- 4.65
Dips -- 29 reps
500m stationary row -- 1:32.60
Vertical jump -- 29 inches
20-yard shuttle (5-10-5 drill) -- 4.6
175-pound bench press -- 15 reps
800m run -- 2:55.44
O’Brien’s best finish against the field was a tie for fourth in the 40-yard dash. The fastest posted 40 time was a 4.28 from Greg Stripe, a former Lafayette wide receiver. That’s .04 of a second slower than the NFL Combine record.
The 1992 Olympic decathlon bronze medalist Johnson aggravated a hamstring injury on the football throw. He launched it 74 yards, though, tops among all competitors.
Dan & Dave was a popular ad campaign leading into the 1992 Olympics, but O’Brien no-heighted in the pole vault at the Olympic Trials and missed the Olympic Team.
Former St. Louis Rams safety Mark Rubin won the overall RBC Decathlon for the third straight year.