An important announcement, from the folks over at Skinsuits & Skates, regarding U.S. short tracker Adam Riedy and his efforts on behalf of multiple sclerosis awareness:

A Letter From Adam Riedy

More info available at US Speedskating:
Support Adam Riedy's Ride for the National MS Society

Boy, were the ESPYs a prolific source of photos, or what? These two from anonymous

Way to go, Ohno Zoners!

LMAO! Janet put these pointers together on how to avoid culture shock in Seattle

For those of you planning to visit Seattle on July 27th to glimpse Apolo as the Grand Marshall of the Seafair Torchlight Parade, I have a few cultural pointers. This is purely my unscientific observation based on 23 years of living in the Pacific Northwest. Apolo now calls Colorado Springs home but he clearly is representative of Seattle style.

1. Seattleites dress for comfort, the weather, and personal taste. They don't particularly care about fashion trends unless they are the trendsetters.

2. Seattleites do not jaywalk or honk car horns. When not experiencing caffeine overload, they tend to be polite, sincere, tolerant, and mannerly but reserved.

3. Seattleites carry covered paper cups containing their favorite coffee drink with them in all circumstances and throughout the entire day; even while skating and waiting for Katie Couric.

4. Seattleites never carry umbrellas. They are the leading consumers of sunglasses in the U.S. (true). The bright sun is blinding and between appearances of the great orb, the sunglasses are lost so they buy another pair. You have seen a speedskater from Seattle in posters promoting sunglasses but you will NEVER see him with an umbrella.

5. Seattleites never refer to their beloved orcas as "killer whales". However, it is entirely politically correct to refer to a Seattle speedskater's thighs, that resemble baby orcas in certain photos in his Olympic speedskating skinsuit, as "killer thighs".

6. Finally, Seattleites never describe Puget Sound or Elliot Bay along Seattle's waterfront as the ocean. The Pacific Ocean is three hours away. On the rugged Pacific coastline of the Olympic Peninsula Apolo spent his week alone in 1998 and experienced his epiphany that turned him into an Olympic Champion.

Welcome to Seattle Judie, Abigail, Linda, Jan and Kimo, hopefully Susan and any other Ohno Zoners who are able to come.

Natalia contributes these two ESPY shots

Just what is going on here?

Tidbits from Jill C

Item #1: AAO's cabooty rates a mention:
“Best Celebrity Butt Awards”

Item # 2: Excerpt from new book, A Basic Guide to Speed Skating:

Stars of Today SHORT TRACK
Apolo Anton Ohno (USA)

It's a good thing Apolo Anton Ohno added 30 pounds of muscle in the past four years. He needs it to haul around all the medals he's been winning.

This 5' 8", 165-pound dynamo had a great season in 2000-01. He won the 3,000 meters and the overall individual silver medal, and helped the American team to gold in the 5,000-meter relay at the World Championships. In World Cup racing, he was nearly unbeatable. Not only did Apolo claim wins in season-long rankings in the 500, 1,000, and 1,500, but he also picked up the overall title in the series. Earlier in the season, he scored his third U.S. Championship. That's a lot of hardware for an 18-year-old!

Apolo started out on roller skates at about age seven and raced on quad-style skates before switching to inline competition. After watching the 1994 Olympics on television, he decided to give the ice a try and, like many inliners, was a quick study. His talent was so evident that officials bent the minimum-age rules and admitted him to the program at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York, when Apolo was just 14 years old. Within months, he placed third at the U.S. Junior Championships. Then, in March 1997, Apolo raced to the top of the podium at the U.S. Senior Championships.

The 1997-98 season, including the Olympic Trials, proved to be a challenge for Apolo. In the six-race meet, he managed just a fifth-place finish in one 500-meter time trial and wound up 16th overall. The slump was mercifully short-lived, with Apolo winning the National Championship and the World Junior overall gold medal the following season.

Apolo was born on May 22, 1982, and grew up in Seattle. His dad, Yuki, created his name by combining the Greek words apo, meaning "away," and lo, meaning "look out."

"l like pack-style for the excitement," Apolo once said. With bright young stars like Apolo, no wonder fans are excited about short-track skating.
(2002, Griffin Publishing Group)

Korbel Celebration, courtesy of Joanna

Ohno, Klum, Kwan

From Joanna

This really doesn't have to do with Apolo, except that it mentions speedskaters and I thought it was hilarious.

A guy who was working at the Olympics kept a weblog and wrote his observations in it. Here's an entry that totally cracked me up:

"Sunday, February 10, 2002
BABY GOT BACK
This happens every day and it continues to amaze me: As the speed skaters come each morning to train on the ice, they walk, talk and act just like anyone. They go into their locker rooms, they ask the audio guys to play some good music and they do their best to ignore reporters. I smile as we pass each other and then, as they walk away, I can't help but note their enourmous, enormous asses.

I mean, holy crap.

Sure, they're in great shape and it's all muscle - but, it just looks like they're wearing some sort of custom, sculpted-foam, ass prostetic."

I'm not sure if he's talking about long or short trackers, but it's funny, either way! :)

Two of Apolo in action, from Brooke

Important announcements, courtesy of Jena

-- The Seattle Mariners Customer Service Department has confirmed that Apolo will be throwing out the first ball in their home game on Sunday, July 28.
Seattle Mariners vs. Anaheim Angels at 1:35 pm (PT)

-- Apolo's appearance on Rosie O'Donnell: "BOTH TVguide.com AND the Rosie receptionist have effectively given me the same information. Apolo show will be re-broadcast on August 1st."

Here's another special treat. Jan sends pearls from Hawaii:

Great work Noelle and Todd! Couldn't stay away even during our vacation. Based on all the love and support expressed in the comments (about the interview) for both of you, the OZ, and Apolo, the unity of the OZ community SHINES! The one thing that stands out above all that Apolo said was the part about how he liked seeing in someone's eyes that he's touched them. Wow! That makes me gasp (!) because when I first met him, it's exactly what I noticed about him - you can see all about him thru his eyes!

Apolo is about balance, patience, harmony and growth - BALANCE between training and making money and between work and play. PATIENCE thru courtesy, unselfishness and respect. HARMONY as he wants to make people happy and see people happy, because it makes himself happy. GROWTH for his desire to learn from the experiences and people he encounters. And he seems to manage to accomplish all of this thru incredible DISCIPLINE.

Since Kimo and I have been fortunate enough to have spent time with Apolo on two occasions, I can see that he has been given a gift that I think he is only now beginning to discover. If he can have all this wisdom now at age 20, just imagine the person that he'll become in another 20 yrs.! No matter what he ends up doing, it will be something meaningful (for himself and for all of us) and something that will give him inner satisfaction.

A couple of things that Kimo left out of his story about our time with Apolo after the ESPY's I'd like to add - We had some things to give Apolo and Janey but they were out in the car, so Kimo had to run out and get them. Apolo just said, "That's okay, we'll just wait over here for you," and led us to a bench where we sat and I got a chance to talk to him for a few minutes. I told him that I noticed that there was another auction and that the person who won was the person who lost against me in my auction! They didn't know any of the details about it off hand, but that it hadn't happened yet. I was happy for this person and hope we get to hear the details about it. Of course I was too busy admiring Apolo and studying him that I can't even remember what else we talked about. Janey was really nice, too, and I wish I would've told her what a great job she was doing.

Kimo hand-painted a frame (he's an artist, too) for Apolo which we gave him with a picture of the three of us at dinner, and to my amazement Apolo looked at it for the longest time. I kept wondering what he was looking at and what he was thinking. I think he was not only looking at the frame, but at every detail of what the picture captured - the bracelet, the composition, our expressions. If you could picture this scene - people all over the place, excitement surrounding us, and there's Apolo (and Janey, too) giving us the time of day. He was definitely into the moment, having a great time and taking it all in, but he never once made us feel like we were taking him away from his party.

We all had cameras (Apolo with his nice little Canon digital) and we took turns taking pictures for each other. Apolo was showing me how his camera worked as he checked the exposure (it was so cute!) and he determined that it was too bright, so I had to retake the picture for him. A professional pool player, Jeanette Lee, came over and was so apologetic about interrupting us and wanted pictures of Apolo with her and her stepdaughter. Of course, Apolo was so accommodating, smiling the whole time, and so unaffected. It was quite a feeling to have been in that situation - like who are WE?

When Kimo brought up how much we enjoyed the dinner in Chicago, Apolo agreed it was a great time, but immediately added that he thought the table was terrible (it was really wobbly as he tried to cut the bunch of broccoli in the serving dish!) and that we were supposed to go to another restaurant (Morton's), and we detected his disappointment. I was really touched by his reaction - to think how he really wanted the night to be perfect for us! When we were getting ready to go, Kimo dropped his glasses on the floor as we were all standing there and Apolo bent down to pick them up before Kimo could even get to them. I just found myself looking at all of this, observing, and in awe of what I was seeing. How can all of this be the make-up of one individual person, bundled up into a neat, little, but complete package? We all saw something very special in this particular Olympic athlete, and he continues to reconfirm this by fascinating and inspiring us with the depth of his character.

I have to say that the two hugs I got from Apolo meant a lot and I came away thinking of how he has something to give of himself to each and every person he meets. Here's the poem that I presented him at dinner in Chicago that I wrote a few days after the Olympics ended:

A polo showed us what Short-Track Speedskating is about
P owerful, exciting, as his strategies unfolded
O n Olympic ice, with every pass,
L ap after lap,
O lympic gold isn't what it's all about

A lthough his past has been full of challenges
N ow focused with values like
T rying your hardest - giving it all you've got
O ffers self gratification
N o one can ever take away

O lympic medals in hand from Utah
H is future looks bright
N othing less than a dream come true for someone
O f Olympic quality, a true Olympic champion
(copywright, 2002, Jan Kayatani)

I loved The Hero lyrics - it's the epitome of Apolo! The land of OZ - what a great place to be.......Jan

Three from Sonia

at Hef's

Two from Lucinda

From Jennifer

'No other athlete exuded the kind of mysterious sex appeal found within the form fitting track uniform of speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno.' Meet the Hottest Men in Sports

From Rica

Who gets the ESPY for Sexiest Athlete?

Lucy says: Vote for Apolo in the Male Athlete category. Also, vote for Jimmy Fallon!!! And Fear factor ( i know a guy that works for FF!)
Seventeen Magazine Teen Choice Awards

More on Apolo's July 26 appearance at the Bluegrass State Games

Olympian Apolo Ohno Coming to BGSG (in July 8 section)

Apolo with Sarah Hughes at ESPYs, from Gemini and Elaine

Larger image of Apolo's book cover, from Sonia

WOW. Sneak a peek at the cover of Apolo's new book, due out Sept. 17. Thanks, April!

from Elaine: Four terrific shots from the ESPY's pre-party

Apolo, looking over shoulder at Bruce Jenner (see 1976 Summer Olympics)

Two from Brooke

another fantastic ESPY shot from Anonymous