Apolo Ohno talks Ironman, Olympic comparisons and Pyeongchang 2018

Apolo Ohno
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Apolo Ohno, the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian with eight medals, took on a different challenge this year.

The retired short track speed skater who used to train for 40-second sprints signed up for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The event includes swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running a marathon (26.2 miles) back to back to back.

After six months of training, he crossed the finish line of the Ironman, his third triathlon, in 9 hours, 52 minutes, 27 seconds on Oct. 11. He raised his arms, flexed his biceps and yelled as a Backstreet Boys song played on loudspeakers (video here).

NBC will air an Ironman World Championships special on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Ohno spoke with OlympicTalk about his Ironman experience (peppered with some Olympic questions) this week.

OlympicTalk: Well, you reached your goal of breaking 10 hours.

Ohno: When I told a very close friend of mine who was a very, very good triathlete that I wanted to break 10 hours, he laughed. He said, you need another six months. You can do it, but you need a full 12 months to properly engage your body and muscle fibers to switch from being a sprinter to becoming an endurance athlete. But the mind is powerful.

OlympicTalk: What lifestyle changes did you make to train for the Ironman?

Ohno: I was maintaining all my different obligations in my businesses, in my domestic-branding life here in the States, international travel for my business, while trying to do a sport that requires half your day, at least four days a week. My recovery days were two-hour spins on the bike followed by a 30-minute run. Recovery, for me, should be chilling at home, getting a massage.

OlympicTalk: Was it tougher than training for the Olympics?

Ohno: Different type of toughness. When you’re about to leg press 2,000 pounds (for short track speed skating training), that’s more intensity, but it’s done in less than 10 seconds. We’re talking about a 100-mile bike ride, riding solo on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway in California) from Brentwood, around Oxnard and back and then running for 60 minutes. That’s a six-, seven-hour day, alone. There’s no escape. It’s boring. It’s brutal. It’s difficult.

The first six hours of the day, talent and your training will get you through. I don’t care who you are, if you’re going eight or nine hours, the remaining time is pure will power and guts.

OlympicTalk: Did you listen to anything on the long runs?

Ohno: I tried to cycle on and off with my music, because you’re not allowed to use it in the race. I listened to everything, from hip-hop, R&B, house music, podcasts. I’m a total nerd. I listened to podcasts at 1.5 speed. I’m crazy.

OlympicTalk: We know you have a very close bond with your dad, Yuki. What were his thoughts on you doing this?

Ohno: When I told my dad that I was thinking about doing the Ironman, the first thing he told me was that you shouldn’t do it. You’re going to wreck your body. You’re not an endurance athlete. I said, I’ve got to do this for me.

When I crossed the finish, my dad was in tears. My dad has a very good energy with me. He could see and feel what I had gone through.

OlympicTalk: Many Ironman finishers get a tattoo to mark the accomplishment. Will you?

Ohno: I am not. I am clean. I’m one of like 10 people in L.A. who doesn’t have a tattoo (not even an Olympic rings tattoo).

OlympicTalk: What was the toughest part of the race?

Ohno: I had friends who were part of a triathlon team, who were like, look, I need to talk to you before the race tomorrow. There’s a portion of the (running) course called the Energy Lab. It’s four miles. Your mind will tell you to stop. You can’t stop. You must keep going. If you can succeed and survive out of the Energy Lab, where it is so hot and the air is so still, you will be rewarded with the greatest final six miles of your entire life (to the finish line). The final two miles are basically going to be wondering when you can do the Ironman again.

The problem was, when I came out of the Energy Lab, I was expecting spectators for the last six miles. There wasn’t. So the hardest part was the Energy Lab, and the next 3.5 miles was brutal.

OlympicTalk: What other Olympian would you like to see do an Ironman?

Ohno: I think 70 percent of Olympic athletes could do this if they put the training in. We’re a different breed. We’re wired differently. Who would I have do it? Who would I want to see suffer? (takes several seconds to think) Shani Davis, if he could swim. He can’t swim. If he could swim, he would crush this thing. He’s a genetic freak.

OlympicTalk: What about Nordic combined gold medalist Bill Demong, who just ran the New York City Marathon in 2:33?

Ohno: Billy? He doesn’t count (laughs jokingly). He’s like a genetic anomaly. I talked to him (before the New York City Marathon). He was like yeah, I’m really pumped. I’m like, dude, you need to do this. You need to go pro your first race. You’re going to make the podium. You’re an animal. He should do an Ironman, because of his mentality. He’s an animal.

OlympicTalk: How does the Ironman finisher’s medal compare to Olympic medals?

Ohno: I display that (Ironman) one proudly. My Olympic medals are with my father. I’m very proud of them. I’m just weird about my (Olympic) medals. I don’t really show them. This one, I brag about being an Ironman.

OlympicTalk: Would you have given up one of your eight Olympic medals for the Ironman medal?

Ohno: (Smiles) Oh man, I don’t think so.

OlympicTalk: Not even a relay bronze?

Ohno: No, I can’t. Those are my boys. I’ll tell you the reason why. It’s nothing against an Ironman. It’s the fact that I sacrificed 15 years of my life for the Olympics. So every minute, every medal was so meaningful, regardless of color.

OlympicTalk: Any other athletic goals for you?

Ohno: I haven’t identified them yet, but I’m sure there are.

OlympicTalk: Something as hard as an Ironman?

Ohno: Maybe not as hard from an endurance perspective. It’s going to have to be intense, though. The true test of an athlete.

OlympicTalk: You’ve also done the New York City Marathon. You seem to be an adrenaline nut.

Ohno: But I’m actually not. It’s just when I commit to something, then my brain goes. But if I’m not committed, I’m laid back. When I go to the gym, I don’t usually work out crazy. I mean, I can. I’ll scare people at the gym. But I don’t do it all the time. I do it in cycles.

For example, my old strength coach and I. I said, let’s develop a 15-minute workout that I can do five days a week for 14 days straight with a specific training and diet plan. I want to get as ripped as I humanly possibly can. I cannot work out more than 30 minutes a day, though. So we developed this crazy, super high intensity workout. I haven’t done it religiously yet, but it’s pretty damn good. I like human data, human trial and error.

OlympicTalk: Moving to the Olympics. How do you think you will be received if you attend or work at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea (where you haven’t always been well-liked)?

Ohno: I think it’s going to be fantastic. I’ve been to Korea many, many times. I go to Korea in a month for business. The relationship is obviously much different now (than when I competed). I love Korean people. I love Korean food. I love the culture. I grew up around Korean people my whole life, even before skating. Some of my best friends are Korean. I think it’s going to go well. I’m glad I don’t have to face the Koreans in Pyeongchang, because they’re going to be really hard to beat (laughs).

OlympicTalk: If Viktor Ahn, the South Korean-turned-Russian short track skater, competes in Pyeongchang, how do you think he will be received?

Ohno: He’ll be an absolute superstar. I think they’ll get over (that he competes for Russia). He’s an anomaly.

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Football takes significant step in Olympic push

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Football took another step toward possible Olympic inclusion with the IOC executive board proposing that the sport’s international federation — the IFAF — be granted full IOC recognition at a meeting in October.

IOC recognition does not equate to eventual Olympic inclusion, but it is a necessary early marker if a sport is to join the Olympics down the line. The IOC gave the IFAF provisional recognition in 2013.

Specific measures are required for IOC recognition, including having an anti-doping policy compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency and having 50 affiliated national federations from at least three continents. The IFAF has 74 national federations over five continents with almost 4.8 million registered athletes, according to the IOC.

The NFL has helped lead the push for flag football to be added for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Flag football had medal events for men and women at last year’s World Games, a multi-sport competition including Olympic and non-Olympic sports, in Birmingham, Alabama.

Football is one of nine sports that have been reported to be in the running to be proposed by LA 2028 to the IOC to be added for the 2028 Games only. LA 2028 has not announced which, if any sports, it plans to propose.

Under rules instituted before the Tokyo Games, Olympic hosts have successfully proposed to the IOC adding sports solely for their edition of the Games.

For Tokyo, baseball-softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were added. For Paris, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were approved again, and breaking will make its Olympic debut. Those sports were added four years out from the Games.

For 2028, the other sports reportedly in the running for proposal are baseball and softball, breaking, cricket, karate, kickboxing, lacrosse, motorsports and squash.

All of the other eight sports reportedly in the running for 2028 proposal already have a federation with full IOC recognition (if one counts the international motorcycle racing federation for motorsports).

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Helen Maroulis stars in wrestling documentary, with help from Chris Pratt

Helen Maroulis, Chris Pratt
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One of the remarkable recent Olympic comeback stories is the subject of a film that will be shown nationwide in theaters for one day only on Thursday.

“Helen | Believe” is a documentary about Helen Maroulis, the first U.S. Olympic women’s wrestling champion. It is produced by Religion of Sports, the venture founded by Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan and Tom Brady. Showing details are here.

After taking gold at the 2016 Rio Games, Maroulis briefly retired in 2019 during a two-year stretch in which she dealt with concussions and post-traumatic stress disorder. The film focuses on that period and her successful bid to return and qualify for the Tokyo Games, where she took bronze.

In a poignant moment in the film, Maroulis described her “rock bottom” — being hospitalized for suicidal ideations.

In an interview, Maroulis said she was first approached about the project in 2018, the same year she had her first life-changing concussion that January. A wrestling partner’s mother was connected to director Dylan Mulick.

Maroulis agreed to the film in part to help spread mental health awareness in sports. Later, she cried while watching the 2020 HBO film, “The Weight of Gold,” on the mental health challenges that other Olympians faced, because it resonated with her so much.

“When you’re going through something, it sometimes gives you an anchor of hope to know that someone’s been through it before, and they’ve overcome it,” she said.

Maroulis’ comeback story hit a crossroads at the Olympic trials in April 2021, where the winner of a best-of-three finals series in each weight class made Team USA.

Maroulis won the opening match against Jenna Burkert, but then lost the second match. Statistically, a wrestler who loses the second match in a best-of-three series usually loses the third. But Maroulis pinned Burkert just 22 seconds into the rubber match to clinch the Olympic spot.

Shen then revealed that she tore an MCL two weeks earlier.

“They told me I would have to be in a brace for six weeks,” she said then. “I said, ‘I don’t have that. I have two and a half.’”

Maroulis said she later asked the director what would have happened if she didn’t make the team for Tokyo. She was told the film still have been done.

“He had mentioned this isn’t about a sports story or sports comeback story,” Maroulis said. “This is about a human story. And we’re using wrestling as the vehicle to tell this story of overcoming and healing and rediscovering oneself.”

Maroulis said she was told that, during filming, the project was pitched to the production company of actor Chris Pratt, who wrestled in high school in Washington. Pratt signed on as a producer.

“Wrestling has made an impact on his life, and so he wants to support these kinds of stories,” said Maroulis, who appeared at last month’s Santa Barbara Film Festival with Pratt.

Pratt said he knew about Maroulis before learning about the film, which he said “needed a little help to get it over the finish line,” according to a public relations company promoting the film.

The film also highlights the rest of the six-woman U.S. Olympic wrestling team in Tokyo. Four of the six won a medal, including Tamyra Mensah-Stock‘s gold.

“I was excited to be part of, not just (Maroulis’) incredible story, but also helping to further advance wrestling and, in particular, female wrestling,” Pratt said, according to responses provided by the PR company from submitted questions. “To me, the most compelling part of Helen’s story is the example of what life looks like after a person wins a gold medal. The inevitable comedown, the trauma around her injuries, the PTSD, the drive to continue that is what makes her who she is.”

Maroulis, who now trains in Arizona, hopes to qualify for this year’s world championships and next year’s Olympics.

“I try to treat every Games as my last,” she said. “Now I’m leaning toward being done [after 2024], but never say never.”

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