What Olympian Apolo Ohno learned spending 8 days in remote cabin at 15

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Apolo Anton Ohno of the U.S. holds up eight fingers to signify his tally of Olympic medals after the Men’s 5000m Relay Short Track Speed Skating Final at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

“In 1997, I was No. 1 in the United States. I was 14 years old. Less than a year later, I dropped all the way to dead last at the Olympic trials,” he says. He was supposed to win, or at least qualify to compete at the Olympics the following year in Nagano, Japan. But he didn’t.

“There was a lack of preparation, lack of effort, lack of dedication, lack of hard work,” he says. He describes himself as a bad kid, one who didn’t listen, who was anti-authority. “[My father] didn’t know what the hell to do,” he says. “He didn’t want me to have the same conceptual problem… for the rest of my life, meaning he didn’t want me to repeat this pattern of going through the motions and expecting good results.”

So, Yuki drove his son to the cabin and left, telling Apolo: “You think it over. If speed skating is not what you want to do, I want to know.”

There was no television, no phone and, of course, no Internet. “Not much,” says Apolo. “It was tough.” He spent most of his time journaling and working out. It rained constantly.