Apolo Ohno spent one-half of his animation dashing around the glass realise Olympic glory , fame and a good amount of fortune as one of the world ’s most recognizable short - rail speed skaters . And then he stop .
Themost - decoratedAmerican Winter Olympian ever — two amber , two silver and four bronzemedalsover three Olympics — put the brakes on a longsighted and gamy - profile calling after a silver and a bronze at the Vancouver Games in 2010 . He had plenty of reason to quit . He had reached the pinnacle of his sport . He was getting older , certainly , which is a uncollectible way to get when you ’re in a young person ’s game . Vancouver , wide wait to be his last competition anyway , could have depart better . In many crucial ways , the decisiveness was made for him .
Still , Ohnowas just 28 eld old when he stopped contend . Skating was all he acknowledge . It ’s how people knew him . He was a successful product pitchman because of skating . Because of his success in the Olympics , he was on " Dancing With the whiz " in 2007 . ( He win that , too . ) Through skating , Ohno became a phenomenon , a long - hairy , goatee - rocking star .
But as the expression proceed in sports , Father Time is undefeated . It was time to move on .
And as it sprain out , retiring at 28 was a lot slipperier than Ohno could have figured .
A ‘Hard Pivot’
Ohno , now 39 , has spell a record book — it ’s his third — due in February 2022 titled " Hard Pivot . " The name is a unretentive - track skating term describing a low , solid , hand - to - the - frappe leaning into a turn . Done right , the move harnesses the athlete ’s momentum to slingshot the skater around a curve and into a straightaway with little or no loss of velocity . Done ill , valuable prison term ticktock away or , worse yet , the skater careens wildly off course and crashes .
Ohno ’s pivot from his athletic life history was no shipwreck . But it was n’t particularly tranquil , either .
" It ’s read me 10 years , I think , to finger much more comfy , vulnerable and sympathize in ways I did n’t have when I was an jock , " Ohno says from his home in Los Angeles . " I trained withbrutalintensity and obsessivity when I was an jock . I did n’t have that level of empathy for many of both my teammate and/or my competitors . And so I realized that living my life in that way was a minute too militant , right ?
" Look , this is an ongoing outgrowth . It ’s not something that you may achieve overnight … but recover that role ease up you actual , internal power . "
Ohno often spill the beans in Zen - like flourishes , influenced , The New York Timessaid back in 2010 , by his Japanese - bear father Yuki , who raised Ohno on his own . Ohno ’s insights , though , are unfeigned , and come both from his achiever ( he was a state champion swimmer at 13 , and a internal speedskating champ at 14 ) and his failures .
Once he withdraw , he bound into role as a commentator at both the 2014 and 2018 Olympics . He come out in various TV spots . He dove into the world of business , withmixed solution .
He was searching . He is , as he says , still look for .
" I always thought for the longest meter that I was put on Earth to only be a speed skater . That ’s all that I had an interest in , " he says . Not until Ohno stopped , looked around and did some hard thinking about what was next — until he leaned into that " hard pivot man " — did he view all the other possibilities .
" Life sometimes has dissimilar mind and shed us curveballs and challenge that , perhaps at the time , you do n’t understand the sprightliness lessons that are within , " he enounce . " But the respectable that we can embrace those life lessons , and essentially perk up ourselves for the challenges ahead , the much more fulfilling experience we can have . "
Showing the Way
These days , among his many professional outlets , Ohno is a partner in aventure capitalfirm , Tribe Capital , and a spokesperson forPersonal Capital . But his real passion , he say , is communicating with " governing body , programs , team … people all over the planet on how they can become more aligned , confident and engaged with the world around them , regardless of all the change , in a way that allows them to show up in full . "
The query Ohno direct to answer in motivational talks , in podcast appearance , in interviews and in his book : " How do we operate in a world where chaos and uncertainty is the newfangled average ? "
It ’s a question he had to answer in what he has called the " great divorce " from his acrobatic career . And it ’s one now that millions of others throughout the world are cope with in the " Great Resignation , " the voluntary mass exodus of citizenry from the men since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in other 2020 .
Ohno ’s experience may supply a design .
" The silver lining of COVID , it ’s the creation ’s great reset , " Ohno says . " It ’s not the world ’s bang-up reset in terms of what ’s normal and what the young normal is . Instead , it ’s a great reset of our idea to say , ' Hey , I do make out that life is fleeting , it ’s circumscribed , and I desire to verify that I ’m spending this time in my sprightliness experience doing the thing that perhaps are a little piece more important to me that resonate both with myself and my family . ' "
" Human beings typically do n’t make these decisions until we are face with consummate loss , we have our backs against the wall , and we feel like there ’s no other alternative . What COVID did was say , ' Hey , here ’s the reminder ; you actually are in the driver ’s tail end . ' "
Beijing 2022
" Everyone knows not only the economical power that China has add , but also the geopolitical tension that exists between China and the U.S. That ’s been very veridical , and that ’s been placed sometimes on the jock ’s shoulders , " Ohno allege . " The reason why these Games are so important is that people , for two years , have n’t been capable to really operate in any sensation of normalcy , in any capacity . The athlete , hopefully , they ’ll be able to signify the foundational Truth , the reasons we get it on to watch the Olympic Games . The human spirit . perseveration . The grit . The backstories . That to me , that triumphs over all other agendas . That ’s what I require to see . "
In life conversion , the route forward is rarely liquid . But instead of shy forth from the inevitable bender , Ohno has taken a different route , one he sky-high suggests for others : Lean into it .
