By Bob Condotta:The Seattle Times
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Technically, Apolo Ohno’s quest for Winter Olympics immortality starts Saturday with the men’s 1,500 meters speedskating competition.
Realistically, Seattle’s Ohno may need to wait a few more days to begin the medal haul that could see him surpass Bonnie Blair as the most decorated Winter Olympian in United States history. Ohno needs two medals to move past Blair, a speedskater who won six medals from 1988 to 1994 (Blair won six medals).
While Ohno has had success in the 1,500 – winning his first Olympic gold in the event at Salt Lake City in 2002 – he’s not regarded as a favorite here.
Many peg three South Koreans as having a better chance_Lee Ho-Suk, Lee Jung-Su and Sung Si-bak. Sports Illustrated picked those three, in order, in its recent preview issue.
Short track, however, is notoriously fickle, one tumble capable of causing a massive disruption in conventional wisdom. As Ohno said earlier this week, “short track is not a sport where you can actually give predictions.”
The 24-year-old Lee Ho-suk established himself as the favorite when he won the 1,500 and was also the overall world champion at the world championships in Vienna, Austria, in 2009.
Lee Jung-su, 20, is regarded as the best young speed skater and is generally pegged as a favorite to win the 1,000, which may be Ohno’s best event.
Yet Ohno said trying to surpass is not something weighing on him.
“I try not to think about it,” he said earlier this week. “My goals are a little bit different from what the media would like to portray.”
The event will also mark the Olympic debut of J.R. Celski, who has made a quick recovery from a scary accident in September. His right blade sliced into his left thigh, creating a six-inch gash that took 60 stitches to fix.
This will be Celski’s first international competition of the year. It will mark the first time Ohno and Celski, who each began at Pattison’s West Skating Center in Federal Way, Wash., will compete against each other in an Olympics.
“I’m pretty psyched to be here, but recovering from this injury has taken a lot out of me,” said the 19-year-old Celski earlier this week. “I’d say I’m about 90, 95 percent. But I’ve been training hard and hopefully things will start falling into place Saturday.”