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| The Today Show... February 28, 2002 |
Katie: It's like Nascar on ice, the frenzied sport of short-track speedskating where wild crashes and disqualifications are all part of the game, and no one better symbolizes the sports new popularity than Olympic gold and silver medal winner Apolo Anton Ohno. Hi Apolo, how are you? Nice to see you.
Matt: Hi Apolo
Apolo: Hi
Katie: It is like Apolo mania right now. I guess you were the number one site on Lycos which is the largest internet network. People are dying to know more about you. What do you think of this? Is it weird?
Apolo: It's definitely like a whirlwind you know, definitely crazy. Like you know, one minute I'm just a skater, the next minute people are chasing [laughs] after my car you know.
Katie: Isn't that odd? and asking for your autograph...
Apolo: Yeah, it's definitely crazy
Katie: ...and wanting to be photographed with you and all that. You were on Jay Leno, right?
Apolo: Yes
Katie: I understand you were on the tonight show and there was a lot of screaming young women... [Showing Tonight Show clip]
Katie: ...which I'm sure you hated. [Katie and Apolo laugh] Was that fun or is it just a little awkward and weird...
Apolo: Oh that was a blast, sure, yeah
Katie: Was it?
Apolo: Yeah, I got to meet Jon Stewart and Jay Leno, so that was definitely very very fun for me.
Matt: One of the good things about exposure for you, you're gonna be offered an awful lot of endorsments, I mean, sponsors are gonna come...
Apolo: Hopefully [laughs]
Matt: ...well no, but has it happened already, have you gotten a lot of offers so far?
Apolo: Um, you know, I've just been so busy. Just you know, doing a lot of shows and appearances right now, so that you know, I have people working for me though, that take care of that so...
Katie: Cuz you've already been in a Nike commercial we should mention. [Showing Nike Picture]
Matt: Have you turned anything down, I mean has somebody come to you since the Olympics with just something that is ridiculous and you've said "ABSOLUTELY NOT"
Apolo: No, I haven't really, not that I know of...
Matt: You haven't turned anything down that you know of...
Apolo: No [laughs]
Matt: No one's turned anything down for you yet...I'm thinking shaving cream, razor...
Katie: Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, but...
Apolo: Shaving it or something [grabs his chin "soul patch" and laughs]
Matt: No, I think you should leave it
Katie: Now tell me, how did this thing [points to her chin with pen] happen? [Laughter all around the studio]
Matt: This thing? [laughs]
Apolo: I don't know
Matt: You woke up one morning... [even more laughter now]
Apolo: I was eight and it was there, you know. Umm, I don't know, I had it like two and a half years ago I think. You know, no one ever really said anything about it until now...[laughs]
Katie: Isn't it funny, you know you of course probably know that on the night that you competed in Salt Lake there were all these Apolo...
Apolo: I saw that, uh huh
Katie: ...Apolo maniacs with little soul patches of their own. Did you get a kick out of that?
Apolo: That was, I didn't...
Katie: ...especially the women.
Apolo: I didn't even see it until I saw it you know, the next night on television. But that was, that was pretty good...[laughs] I liked that, that was funny.
Katie: I was there watching you skate the Saturday night, um the four man pile-up...
Apolo: uh huh...
Katie: ...which was so thrilling and then so heartbreaking all of a sudden. And I wondered actually if you thought about doing the cover of Sports Illustrated, beacuse there of course is a whole legend about the curse of being on the cover of SI. In fact, they did a cover story saying "The cover that no one would pose for: is the SI jinx for real?" You didn't even know about that when you were on the cover did you?
Apolo: I didn't even know about it until I got to Salt Lake. We had a press conference and then you know, a couple of reporters asked about it, and I'm just like "What is this guy talking about?" and then like you know, people are telling me and I was like oohh good thing you tell me now. [laughs] You know, but I don't know, I think it didn't really bother me that much at all, you know.
Katie: Well certainly you had a major comeback after Saturday night, how are you doing with the cut on your leg? and...
Apolo: Oh it is, it's doing good. Healing up real fast you know, I mean, right after I got cut it closed up you know, extremely fast and I had some great doctors who worked on me so...it helped me out
Matt: We should mention, he's off to compete in the world championships and individual championships so you only get to enjoy this glamour for a few more days [Apolo laughs] and then it's back to work Apolo.
Apolo: Yeah
Matt: ...and it's back to work in a little while you're gonna hit the rink with him [talking to Katie]
Katie: Yeah, we're gonna go out and do a little speedskating.
Apolo: [laughs] do some laps?
Katie: I'll do skating, you can do the speedskating.
Apolo: [laughs] Okay
Katie: and we'll be right back...
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