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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Apolo Ohno: Next Asian American Olympic Hero?
e's the U.S. athlete most likely to lead the medal count at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, with an even chance of winning gold in all four short track speedskating events. What's more, the 19-year-old half-Japanese kid comes with a backstory that's sure to add cache and even a dab of poignance to his achievement.
Apolo Anton Ohno exploded onto the speedskating scene at the absurd age of 14 when he became the U.S. national men's speedskating champion. In 1999 and 2000 he came in first overall in the World Cups in China and Canada. He lost last year's World Championship to South Corean Kim Dong-Sung, but came right back to set a new world short-track record of 2 minutes, 13.728 seconds in the 1,500-meter in December's U.S. Olympic trials.
At those same trials Ohno became caught in a scandal that may only add badboy cache to his Olympic exploits -- he was accused of deliberately coming in third in the 1,000-meter race in order to ensure an Olympic berth for close buddy Shani Davis, the first Black to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Speed Skating Team. Davis's win bumped 1998 Olympian Tommy O'Hare off the team. O'Hare filed a complaint with the U.S. Olympic Committee. The arbitrator bought Ohno's story that, having racked up more than enough points to qualify for all four short-track events, he had simply decided to play it safe. But the suspicion lingers that Ohno had rigged a race to help a buddy, especially when it finds support in the testimony of two skeptical referees and of three other teammates who heard Ohno and Davis rigging the race.
Then there's the poignance.
Apolo Ohno was raised entirely by father Yuki who had immigrated alone from Tokyo at the age of 18. Yuki dropped out of accounting studies at Seattle City College in favor of the less cerebral profession of cosmetology. He opened his own Seattle beauty salon and enjoyed enough success to party hearty with other young hairdressers. He was 36 before marrying Apolo's mother. The marriage ended within a year, putting Yuki in the unfamiliar position of having to provide mothering and a stable home for his infant son. To make ends meet Yuki had to moonlight at a second salon. That left many unsupervised hours for Apolo. His after-school mischief with friends became worrisome. Yuki got him involved in swimming and in-line skating, then after watching a short-track race from the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games, he hooked Apolo up with the sport in which he would make his mark. He was so surprisingly good, in fact, that father and son set their sights on qualifying for the 1998 Nagano games. The combination of pressure and inexperience proved too much. In the Olympic trials Apolo came in 16th out of 16 hopefuls and failed to make the team. For some time his ultimate comeback was doubtful, then painful, but ultimately successful beyond the Ohnos' wildest expectations.
And now Apolo Anton Ohno twinkles as the pole star in the U.S. quest for a record-setting 20 medals in Salt Lake City. Those bright metal tokens won't come easy. Ohno must pit cunning, muscle and heart against better seasoned Corean and Chinese foes in the 500-meter, 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter individual races, then pull the team in the 5,000-meter relay. Ohno's spandex may not throw off the glamour of Michele Kwan's ice dresses but this February millions of new aficianados will likely thrill to the wicked glint of steel slashing in switchblade duels on the unforgiving short track.
Will Apolo Ohno leave Salt Lake City as the next American Olympic hero? Or has he already disqualified himself with his badboy image?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 04:38:55 AM)
Honestly, I don't think Apolo puts out a bad-boy image at all. I think if he is determined enough to get to the 2006 olympics, he will. As for the Korean skater....in a sport like this, there is obviously a lot of little things that go on. People bump each other, others fall down. The judges know what they're doing and they make their decisions based on what they know about the sport and what they saw. You can say that it was unfair for Apolo to get gold but I don't see that there's any evidence to back that statement. It's not like it was a biased judging panel. The judges are from all different countries. I believe that they saw what they saw and that's that. So, sorry to Kim. You made a great effort. And congratulations to Apolo for an equally amazing effort and for taking home your medals!
Corinne
Lunagoddess66@yahoo.com
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 08:34:14 (PST)
re: jjk's comment.
If you're going to quote something, you can't leave out integral parts of the sentence to try to prove your point.
Rule 292: Overtaking is allowed at all times, but the responsibility for any obstruction or collision shall be upon the skater overtaking, provided the skater being overtaken does not act improperly.
I like how you conveniently left out the last part of the sentence since the referees did in fact determine that Kim did act improperly by "cross-tracking" which is against the rules.
K9
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 23:43:52 (PST)
I don't think it's fair to blame it all on Apolo Ohno. It was a decision made by the referee. As Apolo said, "You get off the ice and respect the referee's decision. It's happened to me so many times." If you looked at his short track history, you will see that he has been disqualified quite a few times in World Cup after coming first. I am sure if the referee has rejected his appeal, Apolo would have quite happily accepted silver. People seemed to forget that he is only 19 and this is his first Olympics and he is skating with six stitches on his thigh. Yes of course he is going to go all out to swing the decision his way but in the end, it's still up to the referee.
IMO
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 23:17:45 (PST)
APOLO IS SOOOOOO HOT!!
Apolo lover
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 21:24:45 (PST)
hey peoplez... and all yew assholes who think apolo took the medal away from that one guy that fool hella cut off apolo and he pushed him! oh well atleast he got the gold and thats all that matters, he could have had 2 but that one guy fell and tackled apolo grrrr! i was so mad! oh well like he said its his first games and he got 2 medals! he is sooooo talented! not only is he a good skater he brake dances 2! he is sooo fine its not even funny! god hes hott i love yew apolo! and keep skating!!!!!
DEwuN 'N OnhLeE Mrs.OhnO!!!
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 15:21:37 (PST)
I feel so damn weird...
This is where the dilema comes when you're living as an Asian-American (Korean-American).
Last night, Apolo Ohno v Kim Dong Sun, I mean who are you supposed to cheer for? America or South Korea?
HONESETLY, I was cheering for Korea, but I didn't feel that bad when Kim was disqualified and Ohno got the gold medal because an American had won it.
But surprisingly, at school today, many of my Korean-American friends (they have been living in America much longer than I) showed disgust and talked about how the Korean dude was robbed of gold medal.
It got me thinking, why be so patriotic to the country that you have left? Aren't you an AMERICAN? *sigh* I don't know who's right.
Dilemation
Thursday, February 21, 2002 at 16:09:28 (PST)
In response to who dilemma:
I was born in Canada and lived there for 10 years. I'm 15 now. You would assume that because I was born and lived for so long there I would be cheering for Canada...
and I was! But now I'm an American, and I, like most of those who watched the speedskating events was cheering for Ohno.
Basaically I'm saying that it's okay to cheer for another country even though you're roots are in another.
Think of it this way: If one country lost (USA) you always have another country to cheer back on (CANADA)!
Just because Korea lost the gold medal and you don't feel bad about it doesn't mean you not patriotic, because you probably are just for worrying over the situation!
Hope that helped!
Peace, Monique
By the way... I wonder if they still have that MTV FANatic show. I was wondering if I could get a chance to hook up with Apolo or Mark Gagnon there.
I'm gonna marry Apolo Ohno!
madamemo@hotmail.com
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 12:35:11 (PST)
It was clearly obvious that the korean was cross tracking. To enlighten the unenlightened, cross tracking is when you switch into someone elses lane while they're trying to pass you. The official disqualified the korean for cross tracking, not because he 'pushed' Ohno.
Joanna
whizzbees7777@hotmail.com
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 12:02:25 (PST)
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