To the Ohno Zone Community: Thank you all for coming together in support of Apolo and the U.S. team this past week, a time when they needed that support most. Thanks for your tireless efforts to create understanding in an often hostile environment, for never losing your cool and for treating all with respect.

To Apolo and the U.S. Team: Thank you for the way you handled this ordeal and made a difficult decision together, with class and dignity. We all support you guys 100%.

To the Koreans who contributed so much to the debate: Thank you for your honest efforts to understand us and help us understand you. This is no easy task and you undertook it in a foreign language. We may never agree about past events, but I think we want the same things for the future: goodwill and the chance to let great athletes get back to their game.

To the Korean haters: Short track is a glorious sport. Take next week's event in Jeonju to learn something about it, so you can better interpret what you see. Redirect your energy towards positive support of your team and its great skaters. They train really hard and they deserve your support.

Hyun-soo Ahn and Apolo Ohno shake hands on the medals podium, 10/24/03

image courtesy Jennifer Berlin

U.S. Short Track Team Will Not Compete at Korea World Cup Event

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., November 21, 2003 - Citing concern for their safety and in the wake of Apolo Anton Ohno's decision earlier in the day to withdraw from the event, the U.S. Short Track World Cup Team has decided not to participate in the Nov. 28-30 event in Dechoun, Korea. The majority of the eight team members decided not to compete during a team meeting Friday afternoon.

The decision comes after several threatening messages mentioning Ohno and originating in Korea were posted on Internet message boards during the past two weeks. As a result, U.S. Speedskating officials worked together with the Korean Skating Federation in an attempt to ensure the safety of the entire U.S. contingent.

"There was substantial security concerns surrounding Apolo and the majority of the other athletes did not feel safe in competing at the event," said U.S. Speedskating Executive Director Katie Marquard. "Unfortunately, due to the nature of the plane tickets we booked as a group, we cannot split the group up. Therefore, no one from the U.S. team will be attending the World Cup in Korea."

The U.S. team was to leave for Korea on Sunday. The team will next travel to Beijing, China, for the World Cup event on December 5-7.

###

"It is with great sadness and regret that I am announcing my withdrawal from the World Cup stop in Korea. Although The Korean Skating Federation has proposed a security plan in great detail, it has become obvious to myself and those that I trust, that my security cannot be guaranteed. It is unfortunate that a few people feel the need to make death threats against me. I am an athlete, not a politician. Cyber terrorism is every bit as dangerous and wrong as any other type of terrorism. Without the arrest of the criminals making these threats against me, I see no other choice but to not compete at this World Cup event."

Apolo Anton Ohno November 21, 2003

Press Reports

via KING5.com

- Seattle's KING5 TV: Ohno withdraws from World Cup due to death threats - article + video (contains quotes from Yuki and Rusty - registration required)
- ESPN.com: Salt Lake incident still rankles
- AP: Ohno withdraws from World Cup due to death threats

We're big in Korea!
Donga.com has done a follow up article regarding the story about Kim Dong-sung buying Apolo a bibimbob. It seems they have been closely following our conversation about the article here on OZ. They specifically quoted several of our remarks as well as those of some of our Korean visitors (they confused some of the names, but that's okay). Kim Dong-sung’s Bibimbob? Thanks!

here's an article today that talks a lot about Evan Morgenstein and PMG Sports, Apolo's agent (Apolo is mentioned in passing). It's pretty interesting. You have to register (it's free) before you can read it: Sports Agents Find Addition To Their Talent Pool

Wow, the press coverage is coming thick and fast today. I think a few things got lost in the translation, but here is an encouraging, honest article about Kim Dong-sung. It would be good if more Korean skaters could speak out with words of welcome and respect for Apolo.

Kim Dong-sung:"I Will Meet Ohno and Buy Him Bibimbob"
via donga.com
"“I have to go to Jeonju. I’ll meet Ohno and buy him a Jeonju bibimbob,” [said Kim Dong-sung.] "Now I can meet Ohno and feel at ease." Full article

Many thanks to Blair for the awesome banners that we'll be using through the end of November. WE WILL BE WATCHING.

oh my god in heaven. Never did I think I'd find myself in a position to report on... myself.

Korea times: Ohno Threats May Lead to Action by FBI
"The flurry of threats and abuse aimed at United States short track speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno may lead to the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to the manager of an official Ohno fan site (www.ohnozone.net)." Full article

THANK GOD! Someone is starting to pay attention in the mainstream media.

USA Today: Welcome mat pulled for Ohno
"Against a backdrop of Internet death threats and a Korean newspaper report calling him "the most-hated athlete in South Korea," U.S. short-track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno is asking for security assurances before he decides to compete at a Nov. 28-30 World Cup event in Jeonju City, South Korea.

"My dream has always been to just train for the Olympics, be on the ice, compete the best I can, represent the United States of America to my fullest in every single race," says Ohno. "I'm an Olympic athlete who is just pursuing my dreams and representing my country in these World Cups." Full article

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NEW: Marquette Photo Gallery #1
The photos* in this gallery were all taken Thursday and Friday in Marquette. Enjoy! Marquette Gallery #1

Rusty and Apolo warm up for the relay in Marquette

* ~23/53 photos in the gallery depict skaters other than Apolo Ohno.

A little something for our Korean friends: the 1500 final in Marquette...

What is going on with OZ?
If you visited OZ last night, then you are probably already aware that all hell broke loose! There was an orchestrated campaign originating in South Korea where threatening and hostile anti-Apolo and anti-USA messages were posted. This is similar in some ways to the denial of service attack that the USOC's web site experienced in February 2002. Due to the heavy volume of incoming comments, we were forced to take OZ down overnight. Some of the evidence is still to be found in the comments posted here and is being preserved for the time being at FBI request.

Until things return to normal, OZ may periodically go offline without warning. We will probably take OZ down overnight tonight as a precaution (as night for us is day in S. Korea). In addition, for the time being, all new entries I post on OZ will have comments disabled to prevent more of what occurred last night.

The FBI, US Speedskating, the US Olympic Committee, the International Skating Union and the Korea Skating Union have all been notified of the nature of these messages.

Many thanks to our Canadian Trials reporter LK who provided the following photos from yesterday's 500m action:

500m semifinal A: Steve Robillard, Eric Bedard, Flou Tremblay, Jo Guilmette

500m semifinal B: Jeff Scholten, Jeff Monette, Daryl Rasmussen, Charles Hamelin

Canadian Trials - Men's 500 A Final

At the start: Jo Guilmette, Daryl Rasmussen, Steve Robillard, FL Tremblay, Jeff Monette

At the gun
This one cracks me up, because - well, what is Tremblay doing? It looks like he's levitating!

1000 results and race highlights:

LADIES 1000 A FINAL (with times and points)
1  Vicent, Tania    1:35.05  [1000]
2  Overland, Amanda  1:35.11  [816]
3  Kraus, Alanna  1:35.12  [666]
4  Goulet-Nadon, Amelie  1:35.29  [543]

MEN 1000 A FINAL (with times and points)
1  Guilmette, Jonathan  1:28.48  [1000]
2  Turcotte, Mathieu      1:28.50  [816]
3  Robillard, Steve    1:28.70  [666]
4  Bedard, Eric        1:28.71  [543]

MEN
+ Mathieu Turcotte posted the fastest 1000 of the day: 1:27.06 in his semifinal
+ Fred Blackburn missed qualifying for the A final by one one-thousandth of a second!
+ The first semifinal pitted Jeff Scholten, Eric Bedard, Mathieu Turcotte and Charles Hamelin against one another. Turcotte passed Scholten with 3 laps to go; Bedard then passed Scholten on the last straight, qualifying both Turcotte and Bedard for the A final.
+ The second semifinal featured Francois-Louis Tremblay, Jo Guilmette, Jeff Monette and Steve Robillard. Tremblay was DQ'ed for impeding on Guilmette with 4 laps to go. Monette, who had been in 2nd behind Robillard, fell on his own with 1 lap to go, leaving Robillard and Guilmette to qualify for the A final.

3000 results and race highlights:

LADIES 3000 A FINAL (with times and points)
1  Lemieux, Raphaele    5:21.15  [1000]
2  Nadeau-Benoit, Emilie  5:21.21  [816]
3  Leblanc-Boucher, Anouk  5:21.31  [666]
4  Kraus, Alanna  5:21.34  [543]
5  Goulet-Nadon, Amelie  5:21.72  [443]
6  Overland, Amanda  5:21.87  [362]
7  Sevigny, Chantale  5:22.09  [295]
8  Vicent, Tania  5:23.29  [241]

MEN 3000 A FINAL (with times and points)
1  Guilmette, Jonathan  5:17.37  [1000]
2  Turcotte, Mathieu      5:17.47  [816]
3  Tremblay, Francois-Louis    5:17.62  [666]
4  Monette, Jean-Francois        5:17.76  [543]
5  Hamelin, Charles        5:17.92  [443]
6  Robillard, Steve        5:18.99  [362]
7  Bedard, Eric        5:19.03  [295]
8  Rasmussen, Daryl        5:23.59  [241]

LADIES
+ Tania Vicent tried to lap the pack in the 3000 final but was caught with 2.5 laps to go

MEN
+ Fred Blackburn won the B final. Jeff Scholten tried to lap the pack with about 14 laps to go but he couldn't hold on and was caught with 7 to go
+ Guilmette and Robillard were the only two men to have skated all 4 A finals
+ Andrew Lahey didn't skate this weekend after suffering a mild concussion during a fall in training.

Final overall rankings:

Ladies overall standings, with cumulative points
1  Tania Vicent  [3057]
2  Amelie Goulet-Nadon  [2429]
3  Alanna Kraus  [2114]
4  Raphaele Lemieux  [2106]
5  Amanda Overland  [1862]
6  Emilie Nadeau-Benoit  [1670]
7  Anouk Leblanc-Boucher  [1519]
8  Chantale Sevigny  [1428]
9  Melanie Gagnon  [868]
10  Valerie Gauthier  [699]
11  Annik Plamondon  [616]
12  Anne Maltais  [578]

Men overall standings, with cumulative points
1  Jo Guilmette  [3443]
2  Mathieu Turcotte  [2485]
3  Steve Robillard  [2237]
4  Jeff Monette  [2227]
5  Charles Hamelin  [1669]
6  Francois-Louis Tremblay  [1641]
7  Daryl Rasmussen  [1339]
8  Eric Bedard  [1224]
9  Fred Blackburn  [715]
10  Olivier Jean  [682]
11  Mathieu Giroux  [615]
12  Mathias Archambault  [581]
13  Jeff Scholten  [558]

Many thanks to LK, our reporter on the scene!