Speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno was born on May 22, 1982 in Seattle, Washington. He is the son of an American mother and Japanese father, and has one half-brother. Ohno’s parents divorced when he was just a baby and Ohno found himself raised by his father. Forced to work long hours at a hair salon to make ends meet, Ohno’s father had trouble balancing a regular family life, and Ohno eventually found himself slipping into delinquency. Ohno’s father, troubled by this trend, decided to cut off Ohno’s excess of free time by getting him into both competitive swimming and in-line skating. Ohno proved excessively good at the skating in particular and was even highlighted in a Sports Illustrated for Kids issue when he was 13. Ohno continued to grow ever more unruly, however, despite his newfound prowess with skating.

At 14 Ohno found himself interested in short-track competitions and drove with his father to a number of competitions in the United States and Canada. He managed to win several of them. Nevertheless he continued to slip into a shady crowd, engaging in drug use and theft. Ohno’s father tried desperately to get Ohno admitted to a training center at Lake Placid to help improve his skating and curtail the young man’s habits, and though he was successful (despite Ohno being one year underage) Ohno ditched the center and spent a week with a friend, taunting his father over the phone. He eventually returned home after repeated pleas from his father and an extended conversation with his aunt.

Ohno attended the center and performed tepidly at best – that is, until his teammates dubbed him ‘Chunky’ in response to his ho-hum skills and unwillingness to train. This stoked Ohno’s internal fire and he began training harder – a regimen that paid off, as he (still 14) became the youngest champion of U.S. short-track speed skating. But his fire didn’t last long, and upon returning home Ohno returned to his old friends and old habits. His attempts to get into the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, under-trained as he was, saw Ohno left in last place at the trials.

Still desperate to turn his son around, Ohno’s father took his son to a remote cabin in Iron Springs. He left his son there to think about his future. Angry, Ohno started running in the rain, venting his frustrations – where he eventually realized that he had to turn himself around.

And he did. Upon returning from the trip Ohno began training in earnest, and in 2001 he managed to snag the World Cup championship– the first American ever to do so.

Ohno hit a bit of controversy in 2001, however, during the 2002 Winter Olympics American team trials, when he allegedly allowed one of his friends to win the final trial so he could go on to the Olympics. Ohno came third in the race, still qualifying him for inclusion in the Olympics. There is no concrete proof that the race’s conclusion was staged. Ohno would go on to win a gold and a silver medal.

Ohno continued to skate well afterwards, defending his World Cup championship title in 2003 and 2004, though he came third in 2005. He also managed to win two bronzes and a gold during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He will be participating in the 2010 Olympics.