U.S. Counting on Old and New Medalists in Vancouver

Short track speedskater Apolo Ohno is training for a third Olympics. (Getty Images)Ohno Back on Track

With a year to go until the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 12, short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno is pushing for another Olympic turn.

Ohno, 26, had considered retiring after winning five medals in two Olympic Games -- including a gold and two bronzes in Torino. He won even more fame by capturing a "Dancing with the Stars" title in 2007.

"Post-2006, I was really coming to a crossroads whether I was going to continue to keep skating," he said in a teleconference for reporters organized by the U.S. Olympic Committee to marking one year to Vancouver.

Ohno said he couldn't resist the prospect of competing in an Olympic Games two hours from where he grew up in Seattle.

Ohno is training these days in Salt Lake City, where as a 19-year-old with a distinctive soul patch he won Olympic gold and silver in 2002 and became a household name.

He can offer perspective on swimmer Michael Phelps, who was also 19 when he won six gold medals in Athens. Phelps, who won an additional eight golds in Beijing, has been embroiled in scandal since a tabloid published a picture of him with a bong, insinuating that he was smoking marijuana.

Ohno said learning how to act in the public eye "comes with age."

"My outlook on my behavior has changed dramatically," Ohno said. "I think there are certain guidelines and protocol that go along with becoming an elite athlete. If someone has a camera phone, I think it's important to represent what you'd like your mom to see or little kids to see....I think it's very important to be aware of your surroundings and the choices you make."

The USOC said it will be sending Phelps a letter offering assistance. "We will be following up, having conversations with Michael and people close to him in the near future," said CEO Jim Scherr.

Ohno said athletes are "not rewarded for the good you do," but only get attention when they mess up.

"When you're thrust in a spotlight," he said, "It really kind of forces you to look at yourself and say, 'OK the things I do will reflect not only yourself, but the general athletic public. I just feel like you should want to represent yourself the best you can. It's hard; you're in a glass bowl, people are always looking at you, trying to see if you're going to slip up amd make a mistake."

So far, Phelps has been able to retain his sponsorships. Ohno said he is working on his own sponsorship deals. He is in negotiations with about six companies and hopes to sign in the next three months. Ohno said he had some sponsors lined up two years before Torino, but most of the deals were set in February of 2005.

"I think I'd be a fool The USOC won’t be making any medal predictions for Vancouver after winning 25 in Turin. (Getty Images)to say I wasn't affected by what's going on globally," Ohno said. "I think it's pretty clear many, many corporations and companies are looking for ways to cut back on marketing expenses."

He believes there will always be interest in the Olympic Games and its athletes. "Instead of companies throwing money this way and that," he said, "they're looking at value, something with longevity."

Largest Winter Olympics U.S. Team

The U.S. team is projected to be the largest in its Winter Olympics history at 214 athletes, That's four more than in Torino in 2006 and one more than in Salt Lake City in 2002 when the U.S. was the host country.

The U.S. won 25 medals four years ago, its largest total on foreign soil. Some of that success can be attributed to the legacy of the Salt Lake City Games and the continued use of many of those facilities.

In keepingBill Demong could break the ice for the U.S. with a medal in the Nordic combined. (Getty Images)with recent USOC policy, Scherr would not make a medal prediction, but said the U.S. team will be "very competitive." He added that Canada, Russia, Germany, Norway, Austria and other countries were stunned by the U.S. success and redoubled their own efforts, making Vancouver "the most competitive Winter Games that we've faced."

Scherr added that China "will be a force to be reckoned with in the future."

"They're probably on the winter side where they may have been in '96 on the summer side," he said. "We've been fortunate they haven't put the full focus and energy on the winter side as they have in the Summer games. They were pretty incredible to watch in Torino in freestyle and short track and are making inroads in long track."

Breakthrough in Nordic Combined?

Since the Winter Games began in 1924, the U.S. has not won a medal in Nordic combined. It came close in 2002, finishing fourth in the team event.

Bill Demong has won two World Cups this season and made five podiums, while Todd Lodwick has come out of retirement to win two silvers. Johnny Spillane has also finished several times in the Top 20, giving the U.S. expectatons of an Olympic medal in Vancouver.

"I think it's a process of growing in the belief and the idea that we can do it," Demong said in the USOC teleconference.

He said the U.S. squad was "almost devastated" by its Salt Lake experience. "We're a more mature program now and have had more success at the World Cup level," he said. "It's not a matter of believing; we know that we can do it. It's our job to do the things that get us there every day and treat the Olympics as just another competition and the medals will come."

Written by

Karen Rosen

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