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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
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:58:03 PM)
having a badboy image is a good thing. he should convey it.
badboy for life...lol
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 14:28:38 (PST)
Very good article. A few things I don't agree with though.
Apolo Ohno hasn't given himself the badboy image, I guess he's just called that because of how he behaved before he found the sport which he truly fell in love with.
He seems like a very respectable kid, he carries himself well and has a great attitude toward the games.
It is very tragic for the Korean skater to have lost the gold on a disqualifation. But, how can you feel sorry for a man that alledidly threw his own counrty's flag down to the ice?
I agree with Monique and what she had to say about cheering for the Americans because she was an AMERICAN. Not that she didn't want Canada to lose.
Anyways, I just think Apolo is going be around for a more Olympics to come because he has the attitude, the feel, the love, and the look for the games.
Great job Apolo. And it's because of you that I have become a Winter Olympic and Short track speedskating fan for life.
God Bless, Colleen
Colleen
cbsmith143@aol.com
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 14:28:05 (PST)
I'd like to also add that short track is just a crazy sport in which the best necessarily doesn't win the gold.
Ohno was "robbed" of his gold in the 1000M race when the Chinese dude pushed him and all the people fell except the Australlian dude.
In the 1500M race, Kim was robbed of his gold medal by Ohno.
jjk
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 12:22:57 (PST)
K9,
Kim didn't impede Ohno AT ALL. You watch that replay a billion times over and over w/ an unbiased mind and tell me if Kim PURPOSELY "moved" in front of Ohno to block his path.
And plus, when you overtake people in short track, you usually do so during or right after cornering. In this case w/ Ohno, he tried to "overtake" Kim (when he wasn't going any faster than him) by squeezing through a small gap while skating down a straight path.
I'm not the only American who feels Kim was robbed of his gold medal. But forget it, who cares, it's over.
jjk
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 12:20:54 (PST)
My $0.02 on the whole cross-tracking issue: when I first watched the now infamous race, I didn't quite understand why Kim Dong-Sung got DQ'ed. I thought it was interesting that the NBC commentators didn't either; they couldn't figure out why the audience was booing.
But then they showed a camera angle that looks down at the skaters. And from that angle, you can see that part of Kim's body does cross over in front of Apolo's lane. It's not a complete block, but don't forget that these guys skate at over 30 miles an hour and they're bunched up pretty closely. So, even someone putting their arm or leg into the lane is enough to cause a racer to rear up or slow down in order to avoid a collision. It was a subtle block and I'm not saying it was intentional on Kim's part. But there was enough evidence to justify the referees' decision to rule that Kim did cross-track.
camera one
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 12:15:07 (PST)
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