Dan O’Brien used failure to vault himself to greater heights. He was the heavy favorite to claim gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, but he failed to qualify during the U.S. Olympic trials after scoring zero points in the pole vault. He used this experience as a stepping-stone rather than as a stumbling block. He would go on to break the world record for decathlon points and then capture Olympic gold in 1996 in Atlanta. He says, “Take pride in exactly what it is you do and remember it’s okay to fail as long as you don’t give up.”
