Nine American men stood on the Olympic podium at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, receiving a bronze medal for a nail biting third place finish in the Mens 8+ race. Some men had been on the podium before, and some felt they were plain lucky to be there. But Dan Walsh knew luck had nothing to do with winning an Olympic medal. He'd trained for this day for nearly eight long years. Each choice he'd made, every tiny thing he'd sacrificed, went into this moment. It's the stuff dreams are made of. And although humbled by being one of the greatest athletes is the world, it wasn't good enough. He wasn't satisfied with a bronze medal. He had gone for the gold, and he failed. It was both the best and the worst moment in his life. 

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Read more about Dan's Olympic Journey in the slideshow: