Apolo Anton Ohno

Ohno's father, Yuki Ohno, grew up in Tokyo, Japan, but he left the country in the early 1970s, at the age of 18. He became a hairdresser, and after traveling the world he settled down in Seattle, Washington in 1980,

Apolo Anton Ohno

opened his own shop, Yuki's Diffusions, and married an American named Jerrie Lee. Apolo was born in 1982, but his mother left a year later and since then has not had any contact with Apolo.

Yuki Ohno struggled to raise his son alone, but despite his best efforts by the time Apolo reached his early teens he was already getting into serious trouble. At the same time, Apolo was interested in sports and was an accomplished swimmer and inline skater. Yuki did everything possible to encourage his son to choose sports over crime, so when Apolo saw short-track speed skating on television at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics and wanted to try it, Yuki drove him to competitions all across the country.