Success equals sacrifice for Olympic athlete
Posted on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — The journey to Olympic success for U. S. speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno was paved with failures, self-examination and sacrifice.
But the 25-year-old athlete said there would have been no perspective on the ups had he not experienced the downs.
“Without my losses, the wins would never feel special,” the five-time Olympic medalist and two-time Olympic champion said during a news conference Tuesday evening, a few hours before delivering this spring’s second University of Arkansas Distinguished Lecture.
Besides, he added, losing simply means he comes back strong next time.
In 1997, at age 14, Ohno won an overall U. S. championship in short-track speed skating.
“I had no fears. I had no expectations,” Ohno said. It was a time of pure enjoyment of the sport, and finding himself “in the zone” without conscious effort, contrasting with later years where he sometimes rehearsed races in his head while dreaming at night.
But the next year, after he turned 15, he failed to make the 1998 U. S. Olympic team.
“I went from first place to last place in one year,” he said. It was one of the best things that ever happened to him, because it caused him to look inward.
After the 1997 win, he said, he didn’t put in the hard work, sacrifice and commitment needed to make the Olympic team. Instead, he hung out with friends in his native Seattle who were “not on the same path.” “I spent the whole summer not training — and eating,” he said, adding he gained 25 pounds. “And actually, I couldn’t understand the fact of how big the Olympics were.
“ I lost before I even walked out on the ice. My mind wasn’t there.” So, at the young age of 15, he did some soul-searching.
He decided to give up his teenage life. Instead of hanging out at summer barbecues, he dedicated himself to his sport.
“The things that were pleasurable to me were replaced by pain,” Ohno said with a laugh. “It’s four years for one day.” The rewards were many. His performance in the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Games, in which he won five medals, tied him with Eric Heiden for most winter medals by a U. S. male Olympian.
In 2002, he earned the gold at 1, 500 meters and a silver at 1, 000 meters. Four years later, he won his second Olympic gold medal for the 500 meters and bronze medals at 1, 000 meters and the 5, 000-meter relay.
Ohno also became a threetime World Cup champion in 2001, 2003 and 2005 and was a seven-time World Cup event champion.
Ohno said he has now traveled to 38 countries, while many of his friends have never left Seattle.
He encountered dedication of another kind when he competed and won on the ABC reality television show Dancing With the Stars.
If there were any parallels between dancing and speed-skating he could apply to sports and life, he said, it had to do with lessons about projecting confidence “even in confidence’s absence.
“ Honestly, a lot of the time, I didn’t know what I was doing.” Ohno, who now lives in Salt Lake City, hopes to compete in the 2010 Olympics.
It’s the off-season now, and he said he is training vigorously.
“I have two years left to be the best speed skater I can possibly be,” he told an audience of about 300 during the Tuesday night lecture at the Fayetteville Town Center.
And he has several projects going now that he might continue after his competition days, including real estate ventures and biofuels work. He also hopes his relationship with NBC will someday result in a commentator position.
Ohno’s contract for the lecture, funded by UA-Fayetteville student fees, provided him a $ 50, 000 speaker’s fee, plus lodging, air fare and other expenses, said Steve Voorhies, a university spokesman.
“I believe sports is one of the best places you can learn about yourself,” Ohno said. “Sports puts you head-to-head with the demons you face, and you have to deal with it — right then and there.”
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