Apolo Anton Ohno [Ohno Zone]

July 02, 2004

Contest: Guess Apolo's Dream Team
sponsored by Ohno Zone and ST Gear

As part of his interview, Apolo recently named the skaters he would pick for his dream men's and women's relay teams. If you can guess who made Apolo's cut, you could take home your own ST Gear hoodie (an item popular with skaters and fans alike!).

Apolo's dream team picks will be revealed on OZ next Friday, July 9 when part 5 of his interview is posted. The 'Guess Apolo's Dream Team Contest' winner will be announced here on OZ by 5pm ET Monday, July 12.

Hints for making your selections: Apolo was restricted to 4 men and 4 women for each dream team. He was allowed to select one male and one female skater from the past (ie, a retired skater). His remaining selections had to come from the ranks of active skaters. Finally, Apolo was NOT allowed to select himself to be on the men's team!

You can probably find some good ideas on Cyberscoreboard also.

How to enter: Send e-mail with your guesses to dreamteamcontest@ohnozone.net. All entries must be received no later than noon ET on Friday, July 9.

Fine print: No purchase necessary. Contest open to all residents of North America; one entry per person. (Webmasters and mistresses of sponsoring web sites are not eligible to participate.) Only complete entries will be eligible for the prize. A complete entry includes guesses for 4 male skaters and 4 female skaters. The entry whose selections most closely match Apolo's will win; in the event of a tie, a drawing will be used to determine the winner from among the tied entries. Odds of winning: I have no clue.

NOTE: There is no significance to the skaters depicted in the graphic above. They may or may not be among Apolo's dream team picks.

Posted by noelle | 06:43 PM | Comments [0]

Happy 4th!

Tune in Monday evening, when I'll post part one of the OZ interview with Apolo. In the meantime, have a great 4th of July, everyone!

Posted by noelle | 10:24 AM | Comments [0]

July 01, 2004

Colorado Springs Gazette series

Speaking of the allegedly cushy lifestyle of resident athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, here are links to some articles published last December in the Colorado Springs Gazette. It's a pretty interesting series, detailing the fuctioning and infrastructure of the USOC facilities and a glimpse of what life is like for the athletes there:

1. Center of attention (on dormitory living - mentions Apolo)
2. Blood, sweat and science (discusses sports sciences and how athletes gain technological edges in their training)
3. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE (focus on training facilities)
4. More than sports medicine (on how athletes rehab from injuries)
5. Dining hall a place to meet and greet (the social nerve center of the OTC)
CHOW DOWN (what it takes to feed hungry athletes)

Posted by noelle | 10:26 PM | Comments [0]

June 29, 2004

Many thanks to Lupe for sending in this set of Passage to Paradise photos!

Apolo and Kimo
Apolo and Kimo at Passage to Paradise 2004 in San Francisco

Posted by noelle | 05:12 PM | Comments [0]

Posted by noelle | 05:11 PM | Comments [0]

Posted by noelle | 05:10 PM | Comments [0]

ISU | Cut Resistant Clothing in Short Track

ISU Members are herewith requested to ensure that all Skaters entering international Short Track Speed Skating competitions shall respect the... requirement [to wear cut-resistant] competition clothing/uniforms as soon as possible, but at the latest as of July 25, 2004. Cut resistant protection may be either integrated in the actual competition uniforms, or be worn as special underwear.

Read full ISU Communication

Posted by noelle | 10:49 AM | Comments [0]

June 28, 2004

Here are a couple more P2P shots, courtesy of April:

Apolo chats with Jan at Passage to Paradise

Posted by noelle | 05:09 PM | Comments [0]

Apolo and Kimo

Posted by noelle | 05:08 PM | Comments [0]

June 27, 2004

Thanks to Sonia for taking time to send this quick report of last night's Passage to Paradise event just before dashing to the airport:

"The AlwaysDream foundation outdid themselves this year. Apolo appeared to have thoroughly enjoyed himself, lots of big grins and overhead claps for the fabulous presentations, the entertainment (William Hung(!), hula, as well as, yes William Hung AND hula).
During the regular live auction portion, a few ladies yelled out they wished there was an Apolo dinner auction to bid on. Apolo was consulted on the spot and agreed to do it as his competition schedule permits within a year. (How great is the guy?)

Although time to mingle was limited, but we had some nice chats and Apolo was happy and relaxed. It was great to see him. Got to get on a plane...will post more later."

MONDAY UPDATE: More from Sonia on her P2P experience

The format was same as last year's. Gold sponsors mingled with the celebrity guests before dinner downstairs somewhere. Everybody else enjoyed music and 'pupus' outside the banquet room. At 7-ish we went in. Apolo and Yuki appeared shortly afterwards.

We went to say a quick hi before dinner started. A quick round of warm greetings and hugs later, Apolo and Yuki went to their gold sponsor table, and we went proudly back to our 'Kimo Spencer' silver sponsor table, heh. Go Kimo!

Scott Hamilton was a superb MC. So was Jan Yanehiro. Really worked the crowd. Each celebrity guest was introduced (Apolo got first honors. And I think Jan Y prefixed with "...2002 gold and silver medallist, and we will hear screams as we did last year..." lol

Screams were plenty for Apolo. From everywhere. I think the loudest and most sustained came from beautiful Joy Luck Club actress Tamlyn Tomita who was right next to our table. In fact some heard her loudest screams were for Yuki. Go Yuki! In another table next to us, a giddy lady was chanting 'Apolo!Apolo!' so much, her male companion joked to the MC that he didn't know her.

But actually it was a big love fest for all connected to Kristi's foundation, with the biggest kudos to Kristi herself. Plenty of standing ovations, accolades, all around. Each celebrity guest got a chance to speak briefly from their tables, so it was more interactive and warm-fuzzies-generating. Apolo got to sit back and enjoy himself more this year, from what we could see at the dinner.

"The Hung Man" was first called on stage to sing Happy Birthday to someone. .That gave a taste of things to come.

More presentations...then a live auction. Before dinner I already heard a woman walk by and said "If it were Apolo Ohno I'd bid..." He was not on the live auction list, but by spontaneous demand, Apolo was put on the spot for a dinner for 10. The gracious one agreed. Bidding started right away. Kristi bid $2500. Kimo got in on the action too. Finally someone won the auction at $6000. Awesome.

More presentations later, a neo-ancient-hula performance followed. Very nice. A bit long. Then a ancient hula mini lesson with 'volunteers' followed. Apolo was solicited but declined vigorously (two thumbs down at the solicitor) Ronnie Lott and William Hung and a number of others did the honors and it was pretty funny.

Later, William Hung was up for a full version of She Bangs with Tomita, former Miss Universe Brooke Lee, and a figure skating medallist (Roslyn Sumners) as backup dancers gone wild. I can't say I'm a fan but seeing him in action - I could see that he does give his all and as Apolo said - the guy is completely fearless! It was crazy.

Some more presentations later, the program drew to a close and Kristi told everyone to drive home safely. What??? Slight panic. We thought Apolo would be around to mingle a bit. The main difference is last year people were free to mingle as soon as the entertainment started, but this year everyone sat through the whole program.

After visiting with and posing with some people at his table, Apolo very nicely relocated to our table so we had a chance to chat a bit. Don't know what they put in his food, or maybe it was She Bangs and the wild dancers, but Apolo was even more On than his usual appearance-mode self. We had a short but fun time to chat, take pictures. Surprisingly Yuki left right after dinner, so we missed the opportunity to visit with him :( It was a very long evening after all and it was greatly appreciated that Apolo stopped by to spend some time.

Unfortunately, Sonia's camera suffered a malfunction, but she also sent these two photos from last night:

Chatting with Always Dream board member Jan Yanehiro and Jan's husband

Chatting with April and Kimo

Posted by noelle | 10:45 PM | Comments [0]

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