NEW YORK — Decathlon champion Dan O'Brien hopes to hopscotch his way to a record with New York City schoolchildren.

The 42-year-old O'Brien will try Thursday to break the Guinness World Record for a game of hopscotch — a minute and 23 seconds.

He is kicking off National Physical Fitness and Sports Month and trained Tuesday morning with dozens of children at the Chelsea Piers complex in Manhattan. He wants parents to spend more time on outdoor activities with their children this summer.

O'Brien, who attended the University of Idaho, won Olympic gold for the decathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He also won three world titles in the 1990s and was dubbed the world's greatest athlete at the time.