1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,320 JUDY WOODRUFF: We are just about at the midpoint of the Winter Olympics, and they have been one of 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:09,320 the most unusual and more controversial Games, given COVID and China's record on human rights. 3 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:16,040 Even so, athletes are trying to compete under enormous pressure at the highest levels. 4 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:19,440 Amna Nawaz gets the perspective of an Olympic great. 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:24,440 AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, this first week has seen its share of disappointments for the Americans, 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:28,880 but there have been electric moments as well, featuring Chloe Kim, 7 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,400 Nathan Chen, and Lindsey Jacobellis, to name just a few. 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,320 And there's also a lot of attention Eileen Gu, who was born in the U.S., 9 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,200 but is competing for China, her mother's home country. 10 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,160 For more on the games from an athlete's perspective, 11 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:46,960 I'm joined by former speedskater Apolo Ohno. He is the most decorated 12 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,440 Winter Olympian in U.S. history with eight medals, including two goals. 13 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,880 Apolo Ohno, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thanks so much for making the time. 14 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:56,320 APOLO ANTON OHNO, Olympic Gold Medalist: Thank you for having me. 15 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:00,880 AMNA NAWAZ: So, how does the most decorated American Winter Olympian 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,200 of all time watch the Olympics? Can you just kick 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,160 back and kind of watch? Or are you screaming at the TV the whole time? 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,920 APOLO ANTON OHNO: I watch them the same way that everyone else watches them, 19 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:14,920 on the road, like when I'm in transit, when I'm flying, when I have access to just consume this 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,160 as much as possible. I wake up in the middle of night sometimes to watch the events live. 21 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:25,160 And I cheer and scream and cry and smile and shout at the screen like I think 22 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,640 everyone else does. I think the difference now is that I'm no longer, 23 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:33,120 obviously, on the field of play. I'm on the opposite side. So I know what it feels like 24 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:38,680 pre-competition, when they're about to go down a slope or do something. It's pretty spectacular. 25 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:44,320 So -- but I get involved just like anyone else. And, by the way, a lot of this happens when I'm 26 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:48,480 just alone. And I find myself screaming at the television, which is really fun. 27 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:49,389 (LAUGHTER) 28 00:01:49,389 --> 00:01:52,240 AMNA NAWAZ: Apolo Ohno is just like the rest of us. 29 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,760 So, who have you been watching? What have been some of the standout moments to you so far? 30 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:57,680 APOLO ANTON OHNO: Well, I have watched everything so far. 31 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:01,040 I have watched all the speedskating. I have watched the snowboarding. I have watched the 32 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:06,040 skiing. I have watched -- obviously, because of my bias with short track speedskating and long track, 33 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,160 in its essence, is something that I love to see, because, I mean, to me, 34 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:12,400 these Games are unprecedented. 35 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,680 They're unlike anything that these athletes have ever experienced before. 36 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,720 And the past two years have been unprecedented, unlike anything else 37 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:23,360 all of us have ever experienced before. And so this is a dramatically different Olympics. 38 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:28,000 Obviously, you know as well as I do the geopolitical tension that exists there, 39 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,640 a lot of different conversations that are happening around what can 40 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:36,640 and cannot be said when on the podium or even there inside a foreign country. 41 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:42,200 But make no mistake, these athletes still want to perform their best. And they're having more 42 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:47,120 open conversations around how they feel, how they're performing, the stress and the pressures 43 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,840 associated, and how the athletes can really rise to be their best versions of themselves. 44 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,680 AMNA NAWAZ: I want to unpack some of those points you just made, but also to ask you about kind of 45 00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:00,680 another unprecedented moment, which is just this Asian American excellence we are witnessing. 46 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:06,160 You heard me list some of those names there, Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim and Eileen Gu. 47 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:11,840 Why do you think it took until this moment to have that kind of representation in these Games? 48 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,280 APOLO ANTON OHNO: That's a great question. 49 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:18,280 I think that -- and, hopefully, maybe I had some semblance of a fraction of a percent to 50 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,600 do with that, when other athletes were looking and seeing someone who was biracial, who looked 51 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,880 like them, maybe had a similar background of growing up in a single-parent household. 52 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,680 I think, at the end of the day, this is something that is a long time coming, right? I mean, 53 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:36,560 representation, no matter where you're from, what you look like, who you identify as, 54 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:41,560 is a really important aspect of making sure these athletes are going there to be their best. 55 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,360 And it does take a few cycles of the Olympic Games. For example, 56 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:50,360 when I competed in my first Games in 2002, eight years later, in 2010, there were kids 57 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:56,440 who were on my Olympic team who started skating because they watched the 2002 Olympic Games. 58 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:02,680 And so this phenomena and dream is very real, where we identify with someone that 59 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:08,040 looks similar to us, they have some kind of background and story that resonates with us, 60 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,000 and/or they just understand that the Olympic movement is pretty spectacular. 61 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,880 So I think it's important to recognize what's happening in terms of the Asian American 62 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,440 representation, but make no mistake, these athletes are going they're representing as 63 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,560 athletes to be the best versions of themself. 64 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,240 AMNA NAWAZ: We're hearing a lot about athletes' backgrounds, which kind of gives us 65 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:29,680 much more of a complete picture of them. 66 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,440 But we're also having a conversation about mental health. And credit where 67 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,200 it's due. After the Tokyo Games and what Simone Biles went through and 68 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:42,200 talked about openly and bravely, it's very much a part of these Beijing Games as well. 69 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,600 I'm curious if you can tell us, what do you think 70 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,600 most people don't understand about the unique pressure faced by Olympians? 71 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:55,640 APOLO ANTON OHNO: Well, I think it's challenging to see or understand why someone would dedicate 72 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:01,560 five years, 10 years, 15 years of their life for a race that lasts 40 seconds' long. 73 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:06,080 And in that race, at a particular Olympic Games, the difference between first place, 74 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,000 being on the cover of Wheaties, getting the commercial attributes associated, 75 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,960 being celebrated and recognized and, effectively, your recognition being changed overnight, 76 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:19,360 to being in fourth place, just off of the podium, no one knows or watched, 77 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,960 no one remembers even a few days after Olympic Games are finished. 78 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:25,920 And that difference between gold and off the podium... 79 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:26,245 (CLAPPING) 80 00:05:26,245 --> 00:05:29,680 APOLO ANTON OHNO: ... is two claps. 81 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:34,560 So, this entire pressure around these athletes who are going to the Games, everything is riding 82 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:39,280 on this one moment, and being so married to the outcome and the result, is challenging. 83 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:45,120 I think it is a different time. We're talking about mental health. The associated challenges 84 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:49,520 with microtrauma and trauma that exists throughout the experience of a human, whether it's sport 85 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:54,320 and/or not, is important. And it's good. And we should be having these open conversations. 86 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:59,320 More importantly to me, how we identify with the word strength and champion, 87 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:04,240 and what that means to us. And when I grew up, the conditioning that I had was, 88 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,960 doesn't matter how you feel, doesn't matter your emotion, 89 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:11,960 your job is to churn medals and perform under the highest amount of pressure possible. 90 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:17,120 And that is what you have to do, you have to do at all costs, even if it comes 91 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,600 down to your own internal unhappiness. And so now we're moving towards a society that says, 92 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:26,320 hey, I can be strong, I can be extremely performant, I can win medals, 93 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:31,320 and I can also be vulnerable, show empathy, and show that I'm actually human, and I have the same 94 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,680 type of insecurities and self-doubts and maybe missteps that everyone else does who's watching. 95 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:41,520 AMNA NAWAZ: Do you ever look back and say, man, I wish I had that kind of support, 96 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,560 that kind of ability to talk about all this stuff when I was coming up? 97 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,240 APOLO ANTON OHNO: I mean, it's easy to say yes to that type of a question. 98 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:53,240 I think that life has been a gift to me in every essence. And good, bad, right or wrong, a fight, 99 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:01,640 I always stand back up. I do my best to dust myself off and recalibrate. And life is hard. 100 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:07,880 One of my favorite quotes of all time with these poems is, good timber does not grow with ease, 101 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:13,800 the stronger wind, the stronger trees. And everyone carries their own pain, 102 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,520 their experiences with them throughout life. But those are just mere chapters. 103 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,240 And the way that you respond and react to them are really important. 104 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:24,160 Do I wish I had an outlet to speak about? I don't know if I even would have. I don't know 105 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:29,160 if I was comfortable in my own skin to be able to even actually let people into my mind. So 106 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:34,200 it's easy to say yes, but I take everything that I have had with immense gratitude. 107 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,000 And I'm grateful for the challenges that I have been able to shoulder. 108 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,360 And as I grow and I hopefully become a more wholesome human, 109 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:46,000 maybe we can deliver these types of insights to the next generation, so they can be better, they 110 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:51,000 can show up for the communities, find purpose, and ultimately show up fully on a daily basis. 111 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,720 AMNA NAWAZ: I can't think of a more inspiring message to end this week on, 112 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:56,560 whether you're an Olympian or not. 113 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,000 Apolo Ohno, I can't thank you enough. Thank you so much for your time. 114 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,680 APOLO ANTON OHNO: Thanks for having me. 115 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,760 JUDY WOODRUFF: Inspiring, for sure. Thank you.