Apolo Ohno Has 'Mojo' Back, Might Conquer Games

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- After a night that resembled an action movie, a night when he fought off two South Koreans who knocked each other out, and then clutched the American flag, Apolo Anton Ohno said he was cleansed and free. These are not thoughts, mind you, that are uttered every day by elite athletes on this earth. "To me, it felt surreal,'' he said, clearly in awe of his latest triumphant experience in Olympic short-track skating. "I was fighting with one Korean, and then I passed him and I was fighting with another Korean. What a crazy race.

"I feel good now. My mind's is in a very, very good place. It feels good to have my mojo back.''

His mojo back? To my way of thinking, he never lost it. Ohno continues to be the coolest of the cool kids at the Winter Games, his soul patch and bandana still symbols of power and passion, his charisma and sex appeal enduring enough that NBC promotes him in heavy rotation and routinely plugs him into prime time. He'll always be remembered most around the world for popularizing this crazy/intense, roller-derby-on-ice sport in which any ending is possible, including the one Saturday night in Pacific Coliseum, when he won a silver medal in the 1,500 meters after passing the two South Koreans who literally took each other out on the final turn. It's the sixth medal of his colorful Olympic career, tying him with Bonnie Blair as the most decorated of all U.S. Winter Olympians, and he'll almost certainly stand alone in history with two more individual races and a relay awaiting him here.

But where Ohno earned his biggest mojo quotient, at least among the masses, was when he crossed into mainstream entertainment. Suddenly, he was more than a freak athlete in a niche sport raised by a single father, a man named Yuki who still cuts hair in a Seattle-area salon and drove his teenage son to short-track events in a Volkswagen Rabbit. Now, Apolo Ohno was a hotshot on "Dancing With the Stars,'' teaming with Julianne Hough to beat Joey Fatone and Laila Ali in the final round. Now, he was a breakthrough commodity who has had Hollywood knocking for two years and is represented by a prominent talent agency. Last year, Ohno was offered a major role in a movie. To do it, he would have had to quit short-track training and bow out of the Vancouver Games.

Hollywood, he decided, could wait.

"This is where I want to be,'' Ohno said. "I love what I do, I love competition, I love training. The losses, the wins, the struggles -- I love. I'm blessed to be able to use this gift. I still feel like I'm one of the best, and on any given day I can still vie for being on top of the podium."

Come on, "Dancing With The Stars" didn't whet the appetite for stardom? Anyone who thinks that doesn't know Ohno. "What it did was teach me about my character and my personality, about enjoying life and accepting all challenges," he said Sunday, as he rested and hung out with his father. "Being on that show opened up my heart. Many amateur athletes live inside this bubble and aren't really sociable. I was (sociable), but not until you got to know me. That show opened up my personality and allowed people to see who I was underneath the helmet, under the bandana. I loved doing the show. It helped my personality and helped me learn to dance, too, which doesn't hurt."

From the golden tips on his fingers to the smile that makes admirers swoon, Ohno is capable of conquering these Games and going out on top in one of the most sensational Olympic careers ever. Certainly, Vancouver needs his help. Between the fatality on the luge course, violent downtown protests, the rainy marine climate and weather postponements on the ski hills, the XXI Winter Games could use an uplifting, exultant surge. Ohno is that spiritual presence, insisting that his 2006 results at the Turin Games were a bummer despite winning two medals while fighting hamstring and ankle injuries. That's what he means by his "mojo" being back. Now 27, he knew he had to be in optimum shape to compete against younger rivals. So he radically altered his diet, lost 15 pounds and spent the last several month working out three times daily and lifting weights. His current body-fat quotient: 2.8 percent. He weighs 148 pounds, still heavier than some competitors but light enough to remain a major force. His aim is to recoup what he feels he lacked four years ago and complete a journey that began eight years ago in Salt Lake City, where he became a star.
Ohno continues to be the coolest of the cool kids at the Winter Games, his soul patch and bandana still symbols of power and passion.
"These Olympics are about so much more than winning medals. It's about finishing my circle," Ohno said. "I'm more prepared for this than I've been for anything in my life. I'm in the best shape of my life, physically and mentally. I'm testing myself, seeing what I still have inside. I pledged to myself that no one would be in better physical condition than me. I'm where I want to be."

He is so much at peace, in fact, that he is allowing himself to look at his place in time. Normally, he doesn't like to plunge into his personal legacy, preferring to wait until his career is over. "But I've thought about it," he said. "In my sport, it is very, very difficult to come back to the Olympic Games and medal again. Rarely does it happen on the men's side; the talent is so strong. For me, that proves that I've been here and stood the test of time, and that I've been one of the top athletes in the world over and over again. Hopefully, when I leave, I can leave a small mark on sports, even in the history books."

And he is doing so in a city where he trained in his youth, a "home away from home" just 140 miles north of his native Federal Way, Wash. Make no mistake, the Canadian fans are loud and energetic in the arena where the NHL Canucks once played, part of the host nation's zeal to not only host the Games but own them. That's why it was refreshing to see Ohno eliminate Canadian hope Charles Hamelin in the semifinals, to the roars of friends and family and other Americans who crossed the border. This is the one venue that oozes "USA! USA! USA!" and lets an American feel he has a large piece of these Games, even as golden girl Lindsey Vonn fights an injury that threatens her gold haul on the ski mountain. "It feels like home soil to me," he said. "We just have so much support in the crowd. It's just a wonderful feeling for me. We can feel proud as a country."

Among those supporting him was his father, who understands the full-circle element to his son's journey. ``We didn't come here to break the record. It's kind of a bonus to him," Yuki Ohno said. "His confidence level is just way up there."

"He's really been the backbone of my support group," Apolo said of his father. "His emotions are tighter right now than mine. When I first started to learn how to speed-skate, he was there with me, when we went from Seattle to Vancouver to watch these Canadian skaters. It's amazing that he would make that trek when I was a kid who had a lot of energy and was out of control. I'm lucky to have that in my life."

The vibe would be much different today, as Ohno awaits a possible gold medal in the 1,000 meters Wednesday, if he had finished fourth Saturday. That's how the situation looked when he entered the final turn. Earlier, he nearly had fallen and used his right arm to grab Sung Si-bak and keep from tumbling to the track. But as they moved in a tight pack with Ohno toward the finish line, Sung was done in by Lee Ho-suk, who tried to pass Sung and instead fell with his teammate in a double-crash into the padded wall. Ohno cruised by the wreckage to finish second behind South Korean Lee Jung-su, with fellow Federal Way native J.R. Celski -- who adopted the sport after watching Ohno in 2002 and reached Vancouver after surviving a vicious September crash at the U.S. trials -- winning the bronze medal at age 19.



"Pretty intense. That's what the sport is all about," Ohno said after the race. "I skated a very aggressive race. I was battling with some of the best skaters in the world and it was a crazy race. I saw Ho-suk set up a pretty wild pass. It did not work out well for him."

A day later, after watching videotape of the race, he was spicier in his comments, claiming the Koreans impeded him and cost him a chance for gold. "With about 1 1/2 laps to go, (Lee) put his left hand over and blocked me. That's where I lost a lot of my speed,'' Ohno said. "If that didn't happen, the outcome would have been much different. I felt like all three of them were trying to line up behind me. When I was bumped, I felt impeded on. At that point, I had so much speed, there definitely was a distinction between me and the rest of the racers. That bump helped the two Koreans behind us and helped close the gap.

"I definitely didn't think it was typical. I never had someone hold onto my back and leg for so long."

But then, isn't this the full-circle journey at work? And didn't Ohno win his first Olympic medal in 2002 with the same sort of chaotic finish, when a crash purged every racer but Australia's Stephen Bradbury, who won gold while the U.S. rookie won silver? In the end, Ohno feels more emboldened by his latest runner-up finish than cheated. It is part of his inspiration, his Zen, his inner Apolo.

"I proved the power that I've brought to these Games. I've proved my strength and that I'm a much different skater than in the past," he said. "I think that created some of the fear and confusion in the final; (his rivals) know that I'm stronger. I have many more events to compete in here, and I think I have an incredible opportunity that I could medal in three more."

That wouldn't put him in Michael Phelps territory by number. But relatively speaking, with fewer events in the Winter Games, Ohno would be in the vicinity in terms of big-picture impact. What he does after his skating career, only the stars know. "I'm a Gemini by nature, so I'm pretty diverse in what path I can take," he said. "I love the sport dearly, but there's so many other things I want to do."

On Valentine's Day, he was busy on the computer, having fun with his female fans via Twitter. "The love in the air for me is the love of being at the Olympic Games. But actually, I did Tweet," he told us.

His question: "Will you be my Valentine? Yes or Maybe?" he said.

"I've gotten a lot more Maybes than Yesses," he said.

He chuckled softly, the laugh of a man whose mojo is aflame again at an Olympics that aches for fun and soul.