Friday, July 29, 2005 Seattle native Apolo Anton Ohno won Olympic gold and found world-wide fame at
19 years old.
Another Pacific Northwest product, 15-year-old J.R. Celski from Federal Way,
may be the next big thing in American short-track speedskating.
Both were on hand Thursday at Mountain View Ice Arena in Vancouver, training
with 14 others on the U.S. national short track speedskating team in a camp that
runs through Saturday. Team sponsor Nike is hosting off-ice training on its
campus in Beaverton.
Ohno, who won a gold medal in the 1,500 meters and silver in the 1,000 at the
2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, is perhaps the sport's most-recognizable
current athlete. With the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, set for Feb.
10-26, the 23-year-old is gearing up for another run at international glory.
"Just preparing right now physically, mentally, technically," said
Ohno, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., home of the U.S. Olympic Complex.
"Seven months is not a long time, but there's a lot of stuff to work
on."
Celski will be 15 when the Turin Olympics arrive, one year too young to
partake. He has long-range plans to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver, B.C., while his immediate goal is to make the U.S. team for the 2006
World Junior Short Track Championships on Jan. 1-8 in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania.
"Last year, I was 14, and I made the junior world team, but I was too
young," said Celski, who now lives in Los Angeles with his brother in order
to train with former U.S. national team coach Wilma Boomstra. "This year, I
can make that team."
Li Yan, coach of the national team, likes what she sees in both Ohno and
Celski.
"(Ohno) has strong mental skill, good physical skill and he really tries
hard to think a lot about strategy," said Yan, who won 500-meter silver in
the 1992 Winter Olympics for China. "I think he was born for skating. I
think he loves it a lot.
"I think J.R. has a lot of potential. Only 15 years old, and he's
skating really nice right now. I think he will be a star in the future."
Inline skating was where both Ohno and Celski first excelled, winning
national championships for the same club in the Seattle area.
Ohno made the move to speedskating in 1994, and he is now a six-time national
champion and two-time World Cup overall champion on the ice.
The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, however, were where Ohno met the world.
Leading the 1,000, he was involved in a multiple-racer crash on the last turn
before scrambling across the finish line for silver. In the 1,500, he grabbed
gold after South Korea's Kim Dong-Sung was disqualified for a blocking foul on
the last lap.
Since then, Ohno said he is regularly recognized from Seattle to New York.
Did he see fame coming?
"Absolutely not," said Ohno, who was headed home to Seattle
Thursday night. "I had no idea. I had absolutely no idea. It's a beautiful
thing, though. It's very cool."
Celski the youngest male, at 14, to finish in the top three when he took
second at the U.S. Junior Short Track Championships last year followed Ohno onto
the ice after the 2002 Olympics, and hopes to continue following his lead.
"After I saw him win the Olympics, get the gold medal, I was like, 'Wow,
maybe I could do that too,' " Celski said.
By TIM PYLE, Columbian staff writer