Ohno looks sharp as Games near

"It's a chess match that involves human bodies," is the way the Olympic gold-medal short-track speed skater from Seattle put it during a conference call interview Thursday.

That would make Ohno the king, at least in this country.

It is his face -- especially that "soul patch" -- which has become synonymous with this demolition derby on ice since the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

"People just recognize me," Ohno said from the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo. "I'll be in an airport, I'll be out to eat and they'll say, 'Oh you're that speed skater guy, Apolo Ohno.'

"It's pretty cool to know that such a small sport a couple years ago has really escalated throughout the world, and especially throughout the United States, as being considered a really top-notch sport. That's really special to me."

Ohno's rush for more Olympic gold at the 2006 Games in February begins next weekend in Hangzhou, China, at the first of four World Cup events. But his biggest test -- mentally, probably more than physically -- will come next month at a World Cup event in Seoul, South Korea.

Ohno won his gold medal in Salt Lake in the 1,500-meter final after South Korea's Kim Dong-Sung crossed the finish line first but was disqualified for a blocking move on Ohno, who finished second.

The ensuing controversy in South Korea led to Ohno receiving emailed death threats.

But he is eager, rather than anxious, to race in Seoul Oct. 7-9.

"Clearly my focus is on the competition," he said. "As soon as I start wavering my focus away from what I'm trying to do and what my main goal is going there, then my performance will probably start to decrease."

Ohno, 23, is coming off a strong season leading up to the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, having won the 1,000 and 3,000 at the world championships in March and being the No. 1 ranked short-track speed skater in the world for 2004-2005 -- for the third time in the past five seasons.

He is hoping to improve on that with a new training program that emphases nutrition and innovative weight training to increase his strength-to-weight ratio.

"It's taking a big risk to changing kind of the way I train this year," he said. "But I feel I could squeeze out a little more extra performance, I could get a little stronger, a little faster, if I could just change some things."

As long as he doesn't shave that trademark "soul patch" from his chin.

P-I reporter Clare Farnsworth can be reached at 206-448-8016 or clarefarnsworth@seattlepi.com.