Apolo Anton Ohno (/əˈpɒloʊ ˈæntɒn ˈoʊnoʊ/; born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno is the most decorated American Olympian at the Winter Olympics and was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019.
Raised by his father, Ohno began training full-time in 1996. He has been the face of short track in the United States since winning his medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics. At the age of 14, he became the youngest U.S. national champion in 1997 and was the reigning champion from 2001–2009, winning the title a total of 12 times. In December 1999, he became the youngest skater to win a World Cup event title, and became the first American to win a World Cup overall title in 2001, which he won again in 2003 and 2005. He won his first overall World Championship title at the 2008 championships.
Ohno was born in Seattle, Washington, to a Japanese-born father, Yuki Ohno (大野 幸, Ōno Yuki) and a European-American mother, Jerrie Lee. Ohno's parents divorced when he was an infant, and he was raised in Seattle by his father. He has had little contact with his biological mother and as of 2002 had expressed no interest in knowing her or his older half-brother. Ohno's father, a hair stylist and owner of the salon Yuki's Diffusion, often worked 12-hour shifts, and with no extended family in the United States, found it hard to balance his career with raising a child. His father chose to name his son Apolo after the Greek words apo, which means to "steer away from" and lo, which means "look out; here he comes."
Medal record[edit | edit source]
Men's short track speed skating Representing the United States
| Event | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| Olympic Games | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| World Championships | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| World Team Championships | 1 | 0 | 1 |