Apolo Ohno focuses on fitness in Arlington

Eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno visited Arlington Science Focus Elementary School on Tuesday to talk to the children about saying yes to a healthful lifestyle and no to underage drinking.

Ohno, the most decorated U.S. winter Olympian in history, stopped at the school as part of the Century Council's Ask, Listen, Learn program, which promotes active, healthful lifestyles by encouraging people to make positive choices.

The Apolo Anton Ohno Foundation has the same "core message" but focuses more on athletics, Ohno said. "To see me and hear me in person makes the biggest positive difference," in encouraging children to make the best choices, he said.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan warmed up the crowd by asking the students whether they thought it was easy or hard to make the U.S. Olympic team. "HARD!" the children shouted.

Duncan then had the kids guess how much weight the speedskater could leg press. "Six hundred pounds? 700 pounds? 50 pounds?" Duncan said, echoing the guesses. "At his maximum . . . he was leg pressing 2,000 pounds," he said slowly, to gasps of amazement from the children and adults in the room.

"Athletes make it look easy," Duncan said. Ohno "tries to live in a healthy, fit way . . . with lots of exercise."

The student body greeted the speedskating star with squeals of delight. He explained how his choice to be healthy helped him become an Olympian. He said he started young. He was 12 in his first competition and by 15 was racing internationally.

"Did you see my sport in the past Olympic games?" he asked. "YES," the students chorused.

"Did you think it was cool?" he asked. "YES," they sang.

"That makes me feel good," he said.

Using a physical fitness video game that requires participants to run and jump in place, Ohno tested the students' knowledge of the harmful effects of underage drinking and the benefits of healthful eating and regular exercise.

"For you guys to be at your smartest, you have to be active," he said. "Does that make sense?"

The children agreed and listed negative things about underage drinking, as well as positive, healthy choices they can make. One student even stumped Ohno, telling him that "five a day" was a good choice.

"What is 'five a day?' " Ohno asked. Almost every child shouted: eating five fruits and vegetables each day.

The school has been learning about fitness and nutrition for years, and, during the Olympic Games, the students set their own athletic goals, Principal Mary Begley told their Ohno.

That message was incorporated in a song the students, teachers and principal performed for him. By the end, even Ohno was singing, "I'm a fit kid and nothing is going to slow me down!"

After the Arlington visit, he was scheduled to visit Eisenhower Middle School in Laurel and make stops at the White House and on Capitol Hill.