Short Track Speed Skating: Vancouver 2010 ones to watch – Apolo Anton Ohno
Vancouver (AFP) – Penpix of stars to watch at the February 12-28 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver:
SHORT-TRACK SPEED SKATING
Apolo Anton Ohno
American Apolo Anton Ohno – with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals – is set to become the most decorated Olympic short-track speed skater.
Five other short-trackers have picked five Olympic medals each but already retired.
In Vancouver, 27-year-old Ohno can also replace long-track legend Bonnie Blair as the most medalled US Winter Olympian if he skates away with two more in his third Olympic Games.
His surname is from his Japanese-born father Yuki Ohno who used the sport to discipline his son as a single dad in Seattle; Apolo, is coined from Greek words combining to mean “to lead away from.”
Ohno gained pop-icon status in the US media at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games when he won the 1,500 metres after South Korean Kim Dong-Sung was disqualified for blocking him to finish first.
Ohno, who has also won nine world titles, triumphed in the 500 metres in Turin four years later, beating South Korean archrival Ahn Hyun-Soo.
”I still feel like I’m one of the best skaters in the world,” said Ohno. “And any given day I can battle for hitting the top of the podium.”
After Kim retired and injury-hit Ahn failed to qualify for Vancouver, Ohno can expect his toughest competition to come from another Korean, reigning world champion Lee Ho-Suk, the runner-up to Ahn in the 1,000m and 1,500m in Turin.
Ohno has remained a celebrity at home, winning TV’s Dancing with the Stars title with Julianne Hough in 2007. He was one of the US People magazine’s 50 most beautiful people in the same year.
