It ruined Reebok's elaborate Olympic advertising campaign and led to calls for change in USA Track's selection procedures. I went to Bourbon Street with my girlfriend and my massage therapist, and we were out from eight in the evening till four in the morning. Someone poured me into a cab. Olympic champion Robert Zmelik, of the Czech Republic, finished 547 points behind. It was a brilliant victory for O'Brien, and yet bittersweet.
World records are ephemeral compared to gold medals.
O'Brien said Thursday. ''Nine thousand points isn't important. He says he is not haunted by 1992, but it plainly left a void he is still trying to fill. I'm not here to make up for past mistakes. I never forget about what happened in '92. I think that the '92 experience for me, it was a part of my life, a learning experience, like first or second grade.