Let the Games begin: short-tracker Apolo Anton Ohno eyes Vancouver

The Canadian Press -
KEARNS, Utah — For Apolo Anton Ohno, 2010 already is here.

He isn't sure how many Olympics he has left and wants to make the most of the Vancouver Games, especially if it's his last time zipping around the short track.

"I've been in this a long time. Olympic sports," said Ohno, who will be 27 in the winter of 2010. "It's not like professional sports."

Ohno is looking beyond the World Cup season, which opens this weekend at the Utah Olympic Oval. He is the defending overall champion and will compete to win each race, but placing will be secondary to how well he skates as he builds toward an Olympics 16 months away.

Ohno has starred at the last two Olympics and, barring injury, will be a U.S. favourite again in Vancouver. He is still young but hardly the brash 19-year-old of 2002 when his soul patch and bandanna were practically trademarks of the Salt Lake City Games.

Skating into his early 30s and the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, isn't something he wants to think about until after Vancouver.
Ohno was so serious about getting an early start on Vancouver that he moved to Salt Lake City about a year ago to train full time at the Utah Olympic Oval, site of the 2002 long-track races and the new home of U.S. Speedskating. He said he hasn't stopped since, spending some 12-hour days working out this summer with Vancouver on his mind.
He said his main goal this season and the early part of next year will be scouting the competition he will face in 2010.

"The results this year are not so important as certain strategies we're going to implement," he said.

U.S. short-track coach Jae Su Chun said Ohno has always had the strength to win, but he has been trying to polish his stride, too.
Read more ............