Going through the way-back files today! Starting with this cool photo from Sophia, from the Nike Vision catalog

From Joanna: photo op in Washington, DC at Korbel Celebration

These two links from Angie via the USOC's kids' site:

1 - About AAO

2 - If you could sell one thing on eBay, what would it be? (see fellow short tracker Mike Kooreman's answer!)

Another nice mention of Apolo, in this link from Crash:

SLOC president shares life lessons from Olympics

Thanks to Liz M for this scan of Apolo, poster boy for September 2003 in the USOC calendar.

Thanks to Joanna (and several others) who submitted this link some time ago (Apolo gets a mention):

The Rise of the Asian Superjocks

Do you have a question for Dan Weinstein and/or Amy Peterson? Ohno Zone is entitled to ask both short trackers 3 questions in upcoming interviews to be conducted by Short Track Monthly. Please submit your suggestions to info@ohnozone.net and we'll forward them to STM. Thanks!

Three items about upcoming Apolo appearances:

1) I've confirmed the details of Apolo's book signing in Colorado Springs on Nov. 16. (Thanks to the Kelly who first brought this to our attention.) Details are as follows:

November 16, 1PM
Chinook Bookshop, Inc.
210 N. Tejon St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Note: You must buy the book at Chinook; Apolo will sign books only (no memorabilia).

2) Thanks to Tiggie for the info that tickets go on sale tomorrow Sat., Nov. 2 for Brian Boitano's Skating Spectacular, on Dec. 21 in Las Vegas. Ticket info here

3) From now on, we'll maintain an Apolo appearances and events page, so if you need to refer to details at a later date, just click the 'Ohno Zone Appearances' link on the right!

UPDATE ON DETROIT VIDEO CLIP #2

We did ~3x of our daily average data transfer yesterday, so we need to remove the video clip now. Hopefully most of you have had time to download the clip already. If not, you can still email me and I will send you the clip as an email attachment.

Important note: You must be able to receive file attachments of 2MB or more. Please make sure you free up space in your Yahoo or Hotmail accounts to accept a large attachment, or have me send it to an email address (work/school) without file size restrictions.

Greetings, minutiae & stuff from Todd

Hello everyone!

I cannot thank you enough for the amazing support we've received over the past week! I want to thank each and every one of you who gave so selflessly to help the OZ prosper and grow. I wish you could all see the wonderful notes and emails that people have included with their donations...it's amazing to have such a personal connection with you after so many months of digital contact.


I want you all to understand that all the financial support received goes directly into the maintenance and upkeep of this site. Your support allows us to be more prepared to deal with major fluctuations in site use and unexpected costs when we go over our bandwidth/transfer limits. For those of you who have supported the OZ financially this week, please know that our remaining "on the air" from last Friday till today was only possible because of your donations...so pat yourselves on the back!


As I have said many times before, I am absolutely humbled and moved by your constant generosity, good humor and intelligence. I think we are a credit to each other, and to the incredible athlete and person we support here in the Ohno Zone. I think you are all amazing, and I look forward to an incredible future here at the good old OZ.

-Todd

More of Addi's Can Am screengrabs

Sardines on skates

Shani and Apolo prepare to leave the ice

Addi has tons more where these came from! Way too many to post them all here. Thanks for all your hard work in creating these, Addi!
Check out her Yahoo photo album

Thanks to Addi, who was at Can Am on Saturday, and has screengrabs galore to share!

Starting line


Setting up...


About to pass...


Passing


Pulling away


Approaching the finish line


Victorious!

The familiar pre-race yawn

Warming up

Apolo doing 'flexible things with his legs'

Here is another Can Am report - and pictures! - from M-C

M-C's Story

I arrived at 11:00 a.m. in the arena. My grandmother, my best friend, her sister and I went to take our seats. After a couple of minutes we decided that these weren't the best seats to "catch" Apolo. So we moved to better seats.

I'm so dumb! Why? do you ask. Well Apolo passed so many times in front of me and I couldn't say "Hi Apolo!" My shyness took control of me, but no fear my best friend's sister was here. She was the one who called him. Ok this is the scene: my best friend's sister: "APOLO!" Apolo: "?" (ok he doesn't say the question mark) turns around "oh!"
I start waving my hand hysterically to him! Apolo waves his hand to me and smiles. He was starting to leave. I say "Wait! I have something to give you!" Apolo says "You have something to give me?" laughs lightly (cute laugh too!)

I take out my letter and throw it to him (remember he was in the athlete area and I was just above him) I think he said thank you and I didn't say nothing back because I was to captured in to his beautiful hazel eyes! I'm a dummy I didn't say "you're welcome!"back to him! Luck was at my side because after my encounter with him he went through a door and never came back out. *phew

Well that was my day in the Maurice Richard arena! I took.... let me rephrase that. My best friend's sister took a couple of photos of Apolo some of them are blurry but not to obscure. I didn't ask for an autogragh or a picture with of him and me in it because of the distance but next time I see him I'll be sure to ask! (If ever I see him again! ) I hope I gave enough details for you to understand and enjoy my experience! sincerely, M-C

Two more of M-C's photos from Can Am

How weird was it to see OZ with all words and no pictures? With Lucinda's help, we're fixing that!

Hey everyone! Our friends over at Skinsuits N Skates sent a Halloween e-card to the OZ community. Check it out!

CHAT ANNOUNCEMENT from Monica:

I just wanted to let EVERYBODY know that I'm hosting an open Apolo chat room on Oct. 30th on MSN...at 10:30PM EST. I hope EVERYBODY can make it...I think it's going to be a lot of fun!! I hope to "see" EVERYBODY there!! Drop me a line...later, Monica

Thanks to Corin for this link, via Quebec Speedskating Federation:

Circuit Can-AM #1 Montréal - Race Results

Last night's Radio Canada clip featuring Can Am results is now available. Coverage of Can Am begins at appox. 16:09 (into the 24-minute clip):

Bulletin de sport 2002.10.27

If you missed it below, Sonia found the first clip from Sat. night. Can Am coverage in this one begins at around 19:22 minutes into the clip.

Bulletin de sport 2002.10.26

Here is the press release from US Speedskating:

Ohno Finishes First at Can-Am

*News Flash* from Penelope:

Apolo won 1st place overall at Can Am#1. In today's events, he placed 5th in the 1000 and took second in the 500 today in Montreal.
CONGRATULATIONS, APOLO - WAY TO GO!!!

STATUS REPORT

First of all, thanks to the folks who have sent donations in via PayPal and to those of you who have pledged to send your support! Noelle and I are deeply moved and very grateful! Here are a few details about the daily operation of this site:

Receives an average of 1300 unique visitors a day

Averages 300MB in transfer DAILY (this is what's currently killing $$$ us)

In 5 weeks, managed to blow past 10,000MB of transfer

Averaging over 1,000,000 hits a month (gotta be mostly Noelle refreshing screen...LOL j/k)


And to think our lil site started off as a lark...who knew we'd still be here?!? You guys are the BEST! I'll keep you updated as much as I can. As always, thank you for your unending support! With love,

Todd