Apolo meets Alaska
Star speed skater shares insights about
winning, facing challenges, friends’ advice
November 17, 2009
By Paul McElroy
Celebrated speed skater Apolo Ohno delighted several hundred fans and employees this morning as Alaska Airlines unveiled a specially themed “Follow Apolo” aircraft in Seattle. The five-time Olympic medalist and “Dancing with the Stars” winner joined youth skaters aboard the 737-800 for a short ride from the Maintenance Hangar to Gate C-9 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where employees and others greeted him.
“I never thought in my life I’d come to this point where I’d see a short-track Olympian on the side of an airplane,” Apolo said. At a later appearance at Corporate Headquarters, he added: “It’s been a childhood dream of mine to have a partnership with a local company. To be part of this team is an honor. People like you provide support for me to be my absolute best.”
After flying on Alaska from Chicago to Seattle recently, Apolo left his laptop PC onboard the plane. An employee who spotted the computer ran after Apolo to return it to him. “That would never happen anywhere else,” he said.
Ohno won the 1,000-meter final in the World Cup competition in Marquette, Mich., last weekend and will now train 10 to 12 hours a day for the winter games in Vancouver, B.C., next February.
“Apolo has a vision about what he wants to do in life, and it takes incredible discipline and focus,” CEO Bill Ayer said when introducing Ohno. “Alaska also has a long-term vision, and all of our employees are disciplined and focused on achieving it. We have a lot to learn from Apolo.”
Noting that he was a “misguided missile” as a teenager, Apolo credited his father with helping him channel his energy. “I don’t know where I’d be without my dad,” he said. Yuki Ohno raised his son as a single parent from the time Apolo was an infant.
Apolo Ohno answered questions from fans at the airport, stopped at the Flight Operations and Training Center to meet employees, and spent time at Corporate Headquarters visiting with others, several of whom wore bandanas and press-on faux facial hair to mimic the athlete’s look. Apolo also patiently posed for countless pictures, including some with Team Extreme youth skaters, who train at Pattison’s West Skating Center in Federal Way, Wash., where Apolo preceded them as a teen.
“I love being up on the [Olympic medal] podium,” Apolo told the crowds. “But it’s not all about winning. It’s how I prepare and face challenges. I try to have a never-fail attitude and never give up. This sport teaches me something every day — not just about sports, but about life.”
Born in Federal Way, Apolo began his speed-skating career at age 14 in Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. He went on to become the youngest skater to win a World Cup event title in December 1999. Ohno has since won 11 national champion, 18 world champion and five Olympic medals — and said today he is “anxious more than nervous” when he skates. In 2007, Ohno and dance partner Julianne Hough won the competition on the TV reality show “Dancing with the Stars.”
“All my friends said, ‘No, don’t do that show,’ ” Apolo recalled. “After my friends saw the show and my partner, my phone started blowing up from them calling and asking for tickets.”
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