Apolo Anton Ohno is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist in the Winter Olympics.
61 Facts About Apolo Ohno
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Apolo Ohno has been the face of short track in the United States since winning his medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
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Apolo Ohno won his first overall World Championship title at the 2008 championships.
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Since gaining recognition through his sport, Apolo Ohno has worked as a motivational speaker, philanthropist, started a nutritional supplement business, and won the 2007 season of Dancing with the Stars.
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Apolo 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.
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Apolo Ohno was born in Seattle, Washington, to a Japanese-born father, Yuki Apolo Ohno and a European-American mother, Jerrie Lee.
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Apolo Ohno's parents divorced when he was an infant, and he was raised in Seattle by his father.
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Apolo Ohno has had little contact with his biological mother and as of 2002 had expressed no interest in knowing her or his older half-brother.
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Apolo Ohno 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.
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Apolo Ohno's father used inline speed skating to fill his spare time.
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Apolo Ohno's days were spent with morning swimming practices, followed by schooling, and finally skating practices in the afternoon.
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Apolo Ohno has stated that by the time he turned 13, he attended parties with older teenagers if he did not have competitions on the weekends.
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Apolo Ohno's 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.
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When he was 13 years old, Apolo Ohno became interested in short track speed skating after seeing the sport during the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer.
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Apolo Ohno's 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.
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Apolo Ohno's 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.
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At 13, Apolo Ohno was the youngest skater admitted to the center.
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Apolo Ohno did not train from April to August 1997, so he gained weight and was ill-prepared for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
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Apolo Ohno won his second senior US national championship in 1999.
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At the 2000 US Championships, Apolo Ohno was unable to defend his title and finished third overall.
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Since Apolo Ohno had been dominant in the meet to this point by winning every race he entered, a win by Davis seemed to be unlikely.
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At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Apolo Ohno emerged as the face of short-track speed skating among American fans.
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Apolo Ohno was a medalist in two events but there was controversy associated with the results.
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Apolo Ohno quickly got to his feet and crossed the finish line to win silver with Turcotte winning the bronze.
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Apolo Ohno, coincidentally, was wearing skates made by Bradbury's own boot company, Revolutionary Boot Company.
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South Korean media accused Apolo Ohno of simulating foul, using the Konglish word "Hollywood action".
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Apolo Ohno continued to perform well in the sport after the 2002 Winter Games.
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Apolo Ohno declined to participate in a 2003 World Cup short-track event in Korea for security reasons.
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At the first event of the 2005 World Cup event in China, Apolo Ohno severely sprained his ankle and withdrew from the event.
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Apolo Ohno defeated South Koreans Lee Ho-Suk, silver medalist and Song Kyung-Taek who finished third in points.
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In preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Apolo Ohno lost over 9 kilograms from his weight at the 2002 Winter Games.
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Apolo Ohno was in fourth place leading into the crash, and moved into second place as a result, earning the silver.
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Apolo Ohno stated in an interview that he was held by one of the Korean skaters, which possibly prevented him from winning gold.
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The team, consisting of JR Celski, Simon Cho, Travis Jayner, Jordan Malone, and Apolo Ohno, were in the fourth position for the majority of the race.
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Apolo Ohno was critical of the leaders of the US Speedskating Organization when a donation of $250,000 was raised by viewers of the Comedy Central show The Colbert Report for the organization after their largest commercial sponsor, the Dutch DSB Bank, declared bankruptcy and was unable to donate its $300,000 in November 2009.
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Apolo Ohno did not wear the logo because Alaska Airlines was his primary sponsor for the 2010 Games.
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Apolo Ohno was part of Oreo's Team DSRL sketch in 2011.
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Apolo Ohno said it is amazing being able to be a role model to younger skaters since growing up, he did not have that influence within his sport, but looked up to other athletes outside his sport, such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and Lance Armstrong.
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Apolo Ohno retired after the 2010 Olympics and appeared as an NBC commentator for the 2014 Sochi Games and 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
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In November 2014 Apolo Ohno sponsored a speedskating race in Salt Lake City, UT that featured the four top men and women skaters from the US, China, Canada and the Netherlands.
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Apolo Ohno has appeared in a number of television shows as a host, actor and guest star since his retirement.
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Apolo Ohno helped raise $20,000 for Nikkei Concerns, a provider of care and services for Japanese elders living in the Pacific Northwest.
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Later that year, Apolo Ohno joined Senator Ted Kennedy in Washington, DC to show the importance of math and science education by helping launch the "Math Moves U Hippest Homework Happening" program, which gave students the opportunity to do math homework online with celebrities and athletes.
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Apolo Ohno has volunteered with the Special Olympics and taken part in Unified Sports, which brings together athletes with intellectual disabilities and without on the same team.
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Apolo Ohno served as a Special Olympics Global Ambassador ahead of the 2015 World Summer Games in Los Angeles, California.
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Apolo Ohno has had an interest in pursuing a career in the entertainment world.
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Apolo Ohno participated and won the fourth season of the US reality show Dancing with the Stars with his partner Julianne Hough.
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Apolo Ohno returned for the 15th season which features all-star celebrities.
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Apolo Ohno appeared on Minute to Win It as the host of the GSN revival in 2013 since he is a fan of the show.
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Apolo Ohno participated on the fourth season of the reality show, Dancing with the Stars.
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Apolo Ohno was paired with dancing partner Julianne Hough, and both appeared on the show for the first time on March 19,2007.
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Apolo Ohno has appeared in a number of television shows as a guest star, an actor and as a host.
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Apolo Ohno has guest starred in the 17th episode of the 2nd season of Hawaii Five-0, as a suspect and guest starred in The Biggest Loser in Season 12, Episode 9 and Season 15, Episode 12.
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Apolo Ohno appeared as the live guest during the season finale of NBC's live variety show Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris in 2015.
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Later the following year, Apolo Ohno appeared as a guest star on Hollywood Game Night hosted by Jane Lynch on NBC.
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In 2013, Apolo Ohno appeared as the character "Stone" in the Syfy Original Movie Tasmanian Devils, as well as the host of GSN's Minute to Win It.
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In 2017, Apolo Ohno appeared as a host in the second season of the reality-competition series Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge the second season premiered on June 12,2017.
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In 2021, Apolo Ohno appeared as a contestant on the NBC game show The Wall to raise money for the Team USA Fund.
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Apolo Ohno invested in a Finnish company called Oura Health and is the cofounder of Allysian Sciences, a health and supplement company.
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Apolo Ohno is writing a book about his post-skating career that he plans to release in early 2020.
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Apolo Ohno studied business at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.