Apolo Ohno

Apolo Anton Ohno (born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics.

When he was 13 years old, Ohno became interested in short track speed skating after seeing the sport during the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer.

His father capitalized on this interest by driving him to short track competitions throughout the northwest United States and Canada, and Ohno won several competitions in his age divisions.

Raised by his father, Ohno began training full-time in 1996.

His father wanted to encourage Ohno to develop his skills and, although Ohno was underage, he got him admitted to the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center in 1996 to train full-time for short track.

At 13, Ohno was the youngest skater admitted to the center.

At first, Ohno's commitment at Lake Placid was low until his teammates nicknamed him "Chunky", which motivated him to train harder.

At the age of 14, he became the youngest U.S. national champion in 1997 and was the reigning champion from 2001 to 2009, winning the title a total of 12 times.

In January, he failed to make the 1997 U.S. Junior World Team.

Ohno adjusted his training and made a comeback winning the 1997 U.S. Senior Championships overall title, taking a gold medal in the 1500 m, a silver in the 300 m, and came in fourth in the 500 m races.

At the age of 14, he became the youngest person to win the title.

Ohno then relocated to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center to begin training with the senior level skaters, despite being only 14 years old.

However, Ohno would struggle at the 1997 World Championships in Nagano, Japan, finishing 19th overall.

After this disappointing defeat at his first appearance at a world championships, Ohno returned home to Seattle.

He did not train from April to August 1997, so he gained weight and was ill-prepared for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

As a result, he finished last in the Olympic trials and did not qualify for the Olympic team.

Because of his losses at the World Championships and his failure to qualify for the Olympic team, Ohno recommitted himself to the sport and returned to junior-level skating at Lake Placid, rather than at Colorado Springs.

In December 1999, he became the youngest skater to win a World Cup event title, and became the first American to win a World Cup overall title in 2001, which he won again in 2003 and 2005.

At the 1999 World Junior Championships, Ohno won first overall, placing first in the 1000 m and 1500 m, and winning silver in the 500 m. He won his second senior U.S. national championship in 1999.

He finished fourth overall at the 1999 World Championships and earned a silver medal in the 500 m. At the 2000 U.S. Championships, Ohno was unable to defend his title and finished third overall.

Ohno has been the face of short track in the United States since winning his medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

He has had little contact with his biological mother and as of 2002 had expressed no interest in knowing her or his older half-brother.

Ohno's father, a hair stylist and owner of the salon Yuki's Diffusion, often worked 12-hour shifts, and with no extended family in the United States, found it hard to balance his career with raising a child.

His father chose to name his son Apolo after the Greek words apo, which means to "steer away from" and lo, which means "look out; here he comes."

When Ohno was very young, his father meticulously researched childcare providers to care for his son during his long work hours.

As Apolo grew older, his father became concerned his son would become a latchkey kid, so Yuki got his son involved with competitive swimming and quad-speed roller skating at age 6.

He later switched from the instruction of Benton Redford, a National Champion, to a team in Federal Way, Washington, called Pattison's Team Extreme and became a national inline speedskating champion and record holder himself.

His father used inline speed skating to fill his spare time.

Ohno's days were spent with morning swimming practices, followed by schooling, and finally skating practices in the afternoon.

When Ohno was 12, he won the Washington state championship in the breaststroke, but preferred inline speed skating over swimming.

He has stated that by the time he turned 13, he attended parties with older teenagers if he did not have competitions on the weekends.

His father has stated that it was a struggle balancing his son's desire for independence while helping him reach his potential as a young athlete.

Ohno's accolades and accomplishments include the United States Olympic Committee's Male Athlete of the Month in October 2003 and March 2008, U.S. Speedskating's Athlete of the Year for 2003, and a finalist for the 2002, 2003, and 2006 Sullivan Award, which recognizes the best amateur athlete in the United States.

Since gaining recognition through his sport, Ohno has worked as a motivational speaker, philanthropist, started a nutritional supplement business, and won the 2007 season of Dancing with the Stars.

He won his first overall World Championship title at the 2008 championships.

Ohno later became host of a revival of Minute to Win It on Game Show Network and served as a commentator for NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi and the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

Outside of competing, he has been an entrepreneur in the health, wellness, and technology industries.

Ohno was born in Seattle, Washington, to a Japanese-born father, Yuki Ohno (大野 幸) and a European-American mother, Jerrie Lee.

Ohno's parents divorced when he was an infant, and he was raised in Seattle by his father.

Ohno is the most decorated American at the Winter Olympics and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019.