Apolo Ohno - Early Life

Early Life

Ohno was born in Federal Way, Washington, to a Japanese-born father, Yuki Ohno (大野 幸, Ōno Yuki?) and a Caucasian-American mother, Jerrie Lee. Ohno's parents divorced when he was an infant, and he was raised in Seattle by his father. He has had little contact with his biological mother and as of 2002, has expressed no interest in knowing her or his older half-brother. Ohno's father, a hair stylist and owner of the salon Yuki's Diffusion, often worked 12-hour shifts, and with no family in the United States, found it hard to balance career and family. His father chose to name his son Apolo after the Greek words "Ap," which means to "steer away from" and "lo," which means "look out; here he comes."

When Ohno was very young, his father meticulously researched childcare providers to care for his son during his long work hours. As he grew older, his father became concerned his son would become a latchkey kid, so he got his son involved with competitive swimming and quad-speed roller skating at age 6. He later switched from the instruction of Benton Redford, a National Champion, to a team in Federal Way, WA called Pattisons Team Extreme and became a national inline speedskating champion and record holder himself. His father used Inline Speedskating to fill his spare time. Ohno's days were spent with morning swimming practices, followed by schooling, and finally skating practices in the afternoon.

When Ohno was 12, he won the Washington state championship in the breaststroke but preferred inline speed skating over swimming. He has stated that by the time he turned 13 years of age he attended parties with older teenagers if he did not have competitions on the weekends. His father has stated that it was a struggle balancing his son's desire for independence while helping him reach his potential as a young athlete.