Ohno Could Put U.S. on Fast Track to Success

If all goes as expected in short-track speedskating at these Olympics, plan on seeing plenty of Apolo Anton Ohno in the future.

On the early-morning and late-night TV show circuit, maybe on a cereal box. You know, the usual fare of Olympic champions.

Ohno should have a star resume.

He’s good; he’s the unquestioned leader of the U.S. team; he’s controversial; and, if everything goes the way many are predicting, he will leave these Games with four medals, possibly all gold, and several records.

Last season’s overwhelming World Cup champion, he is favored in each of the men’s individual events--the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter races--and, along with teammates Rusty Smith, Ron Biondo and Daniel Weinstein, figures to be in the thick of things in the 5,000-meter relay. The competition begins today at the Salt Lake Ice Center with the preliminaries in the men’s 1,000 and the relay, and the women’s final in the 1,500.

Ohno, at least publicly, says the expectations set for him are a tad on the high side.

“A sweep? Four gold medals? That’s almost impossible,” he said. “In short track, anything can happen [to mess up a skater’s race]. I’ll consider this a successful Olympics if I walk away from all the races knowing I did my best. I know I’m prepared, and I know I’m ready.”

Teammate Weinstein, a Harvard man, figures Ohno is being modest.

“The way I see it, Apolo is a step up from everybody else in the world,” he said. “He says four golds are impossible. For him, it’s possible.... He’s the World Cup champion, and I think people in other countries, even if they don’t say it, think he’s the best. I think he’ll do awesome.”

If he does, it will be the culmination of an unusual pre-Olympic period for him. A week after the Olympic trials here in late December, Ohno and Smith were accused by teammate Tommy O’Hare of rigging the final qualifying race--at O’Hare’s expense--so their friend, Shani Davis, could win and qualify for the Games. Ohno and Smith both denied the allegation, and skating officials said it was odd that O’Hare had waited so long to lodge his protest. Still, there was a chance that Ohno and Smith could have been dismissed from the team. Instead, they were cleared in an arbitration hearing and O’Hare withdrew his charge.

“It was a distraction at the time, but I was always confident of the outcome,” Ohno said. “Now I’m ready to do my thing and perform the best I can.”

Smith, who skated for the U.S. at Nagano, also figures in the medals picture, especially in the 500.

Meanwhile, the U.S. women are battling illness. Amy Peterson, a three-time Olympic medalist competing in her fifth Games, is once again battling chronic fatigue syndrome, the disease she fought through at Nagano, just as long-track star Chris Witty is battling mononucleosis.

“I have a good day, then a bad day,” Peterson said. “But I’m in a better place than I was two or three months ago, so, hopefully, I can stay on an upswing. I just worry about letting the team down.”

Not to worry, said teammate Caroline Hallisey.

“I don’t think there’s any way Amy could ever let the girls’ team down, ever,” she said. “No matter if she’s having what she thinks is a down day, she’s going to help us.”

A topic of conversation at the Games has been the home-field advantage, because athletes have practiced and competed at venues here for years. That doesn’t apply to the short-trackers, though. They will be skating in the Salt Lake Ice Center. The U.S. team had its Olympic qualifying races and hosted a competition there this season, but, except for the crowd, would seem to have no edge.