379 ENCORE Apolo Ohno: When Your Last Closing Ceremony Is Over, What Does Life After The Olympics Look Like?

Disrupt Yourself Podcast with Whitney Johnson

In just about a month, on the 26th of July, 10 thousand athletes from all over the world will gather in Paris for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Being an Olympian has a way of consuming a person’s image. Olympians dedicate their body and their mind to the perfect backstroke, or the perfect arrow release, or this year – even the perfect breakdancing routine.

So when an Olympic athlete hangs up the towel… who are they? How do you leave behind the biggest S Curve of your life? Although he’s better known for the Winter Olympics, Apolo Ohno has some ideas. The most decorated American in the Olympics’ chillier half, Apolo is known the world over for his gold-medal talent at speed skating.

I wanted to bring back my conversation with Apolo, in light of the Olympic Games on our doorstep, but also as a reminder this summer that although we should honor our past, we are never tied to it when it comes to trailblazing our future. What did retirement look like – what did slowing down look like – for the man who built his career around being the fastest athlete on the ice?