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February 19, 2005
Scenes from Apolo's 1000m semifinal in Budapest
Posted by noelle at 5:00 PM | Comments (6)
1000m semifinal: Apolo out in front
Posted by noelle at 4:58 PM | Comments (1)
Apolo leads Jiajun Li
Posted by noelle at 4:56 PM | Comments (15)
Charles Hamelin, Apolo Ohno, Jiajun Li, Hyun-soo Ahn
Posted by noelle at 4:55 PM | Comments (0)
Scenes from Apolo's 1000m final in Budapest
Apolo peeks out from behind a wall of skaters
Posted by noelle at 4:49 PM | Comments (0)
Traffic jam
Apolo Ohno skates in the 1000m final behind Francois-Louis Tremblay, Charles Hamelin, Suk-woo Song and Jiajun Li
Posted by noelle at 4:47 PM | Comments (0)
Apolo follows Tremblay and Hamelin
Posted by noelle at 4:45 PM | Comments (0)
Occupational hazard
Apolo gets a mouthful of glove
Some additional shots from the 1000m semi and final are also available in the Budapest Day 3 gallery.
Posted by noelle at 4:44 PM | Comments (15)
February 17, 2005
Scenes from the 3000m in Budapest (before crash)
These are from the original race prior to the crash of Charles Hamelin and Suk-woo Song. More race photos in Budapest Day 3 gallery.
click images below to enlarge
Posted by noelle at 8:29 PM | Comments (9)
USOlympicTeam.com | Eric Heiden 25
The USOC interviewed Eric Heiden on the 25th anniversary of his historic gold medal sweep of the 5 long track distances at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
Q: What do you think of Apolo Anton Ohno?
ERIC HEIDEN: “Apolo is one of those athletes who has found the sport he can do very well at. Every once in awhile, you get a chance to find or see somebody who is head and shoulders better than anybody else and Apolo is one of those athletes. I would recommend anybody who gets a chance to see short track skating, make it a point to go out there when Apolo is skating because you won’t see anybody better.â€
Apolo and other skaters reflect on Heiden's legacy here: Achieving the impossible. The title was taken from one of AAO's quotes. Here's another:
Any favorite Eric Heiden stories?
Apolo Anton Ohno: “I remember that when I was on the table getting ready to get stitched up (after the 1000m) he was standing over me and I looked at him and said that all I wanted to do was to do a small portion of what he did in 1980. He looked at me and said, “Apolo, you did greatâ€. That was awesome.â€
Posted by noelle at 1:42 PM | Comments (11)
February 15, 2005
Oh yeah!
[update] see article link below the photo
The Slovakia photo we have been waiting for - the gold-medal winning U.S. men's relay team! Just look at those smiles.
Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith, Mike Kooreman, Kyle Carr, Jordan Malone
Jordan Malone's hometown paper is doing a nice job covering his skating exploits!
Denton (TX) Record-Chronicle | Denton's Malone wins World Cup gold on ice
Denton's Jordan Malone needed only two World Cup short track speedskating competitions to bring home his first gold medal. "A lot of these guys, I know their names, and I've looked up to them, but now I know them, and I've raced against them. It's like you're racing against Lance Armstrong," Malone said.
Posted by noelle at 8:20 PM | Comments (35)
USA Today names Apolo its athlete of the week for the 2nd time this season
USA Today | Ohno refuses to slow down
He could have coasted through this meet and still won the World Cup title. In short-track speedskating, only four of the six meets count in the season standings, and he had already guaranteed himself an unassailable 199 points out of a possible 200.
But Apolo Anton Ohno didn't settle for anything less than perfect. He won the 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters at Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia, sewing up the season titles in those disciplines as well. He also led the U.S. to a relay win and finished second at 3,000 meters. When the points were added up, Ohno had won top honors on the weekend for the fourth time in six meets this season. That meant he could drop his two second-place finishes in the season standings, leaving him with an unblemished 200 points in the final tally. continue reading
Posted by noelle at 1:02 PM | Comments (4)
Slovakia photo galleries
Side note: Loads of Slovakia photos have been posted at www.press-photo.net -- there are tons of Apolo in particular in the various galleries!
Posted by noelle at 9:16 AM | Comments (19)
February 14, 2005
Valentine's Day Video: Apolo's 500m semi in Saguenay
Picking up on the videos from previous World Cups this season, the latest is the 500m semi from World Cup 4, with Apolo Ohno, Haonan Li, Francois-Louis Tremblay and Pieter Gysel. Download the clip here.
Thanks, Janet, Maggie and Sonia!
Posted by noelle at 2:52 PM | Comments (13)
Article on Eun-kyung Choi and Apolo's perfect score
JoongAng Daily | Short-track star seeks more records to break
Just what every girl wants to hear: "[Choi] was changing her sweat-soaked pants and her thighs were as thick as lumber, measuring 22 inches, thicker than that of some male skaters."
On a more serious note: "After Ms. Choi won five gold medals at the Winter Universiade, she feels that an emotional burden has been lifted. The burden was because of 'physical abuse' by previous coaches that was revealed last November.... 'I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to compete again,' Ms. Choi recalled.
It took eight years for Ms. Choi to blow the whistle."
Also, via ISU: "Apolo Anton Ohno (USA) scored a remarkable maximum of 200 points to take the men’s overall title." Bosideng ISU World Cup Final Rankings 2004/5
This is the first time, at least in terms of data available on Cyberscoreboard, that a male skater has earned a perfect score in the overall world ranking. Congratulations to Apolo!
Posted by noelle at 12:41 PM | Comments (7)
February 13, 2005
Photos of the 3000m re-skate in Budapest
With previous event photos, it has taken forever to get to the Sunday races, so this time I'll begin at the end and work backwards. I'm starting with the re-skate of the 3000m in Budapest, after the crash that took out Suk-woo Song and Charles Hamelin.
Posted by noelle at 3:19 PM | Comments (13)
Apolo follows Francois-Louis Tremblay
Posted by noelle at 3:18 PM | Comments (1)
Apolo skates behind the 2 Canadians left in the race
Posted by noelle at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)
Ain't no one gonna catch him now!
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Apolo starts to celebrate as Tremblay and Ahn follow him to the finish
The following Budapest photo galleries have been created (and are ongoing):
- Budapest Practice Days
- Budapest Day 1
- Budapest Day 3
- Canadian Team in Budapest
There are far fewer good photos from this world cup so the silver lining is we may get through them more quickly. (Although with Milwaukee coming up...)
Posted by noelle at 3:16 PM | Comments (3)
Press roundup
US Speedskating | Ohno Wins World Cup
Men's 1000m final: On the second to last turn Korea's Ahn Hyun Soo tried a pass on the outside, while Canada's Mathieu Turcotte attempted a pass on the inside. Turcotte, Ahn, and Canada's Steve Robillard were caught up in the traffic with Turcotte and Robillard falling. Since Ohno was in the lead, he was able to narrowly avoid the two Canadians falling.
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The ISU's press release gives a blow-by-blow of the action at World Cup #6. Here are some highlights:
Men's 1500m: "Two laps before the end of the race Apolo Anton Ohno timed his move perfectly to win the final. [Hyun-soo] Ahn was disqualified for cross-tracking."
Men's 500m: "In the 500 meters 73 skaters were at the start and after the preliminaries already the heats produced strong, competitive races. In the first heat Saturo Terao won. It seemed that Apolo Anton Ohno would take second and qualify but he was beaten on the line in the same way that Fabio Carta had lost a gold medal at the recent European Championship in Torino. Wim de Deyne learned from Carta’s mistake and reacted very quickly."
5000m relay: "Korea were leading and Canada were in second position. Lap after lap they were on schedule for the world record. With 19 laps to go, Canada fell and, just a few moments later, so did Korea. The USA team reacted very quickly, sped up and won the final."
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Speed Skating Canada | Canadian women’s relay snares silver at short track World Cup final
"In the final World Cup standings, Canada earned three titles: it was ranked the top-men’s team for the year and was also first in the men’s relay standings while [Mathieu] Turcotte took the men’s 500 crown."
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Finally, a 'where are they now?' feature on U.S. legend Eric Flaim.
Boston Globe | Olympic memories live on
He remains the only skater in the world to climb atop an Olympic podium as both a short and long track skater. His resume includes being a member of the 1992 and '98 US Olympic teams. At the '98 Games in Nagano, Japan, Flaim was selected by his teammates to carry the US flag during the opening ceremonies.
Posted by noelle at 9:31 AM | Comments (11)