Simon Cho (born October 7, 1991) is a retired

Korean American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...

who was a member of the US Olympic Team for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Simon Cho is currently the head coach at Potomac Speed Skating Club. Since Simon Cho has become head coach, Potomac Speed Skating Club has been one of the top ranked clubs in the United States with evidence pointing from their Short Track National Club Championship 2016–2017 in March 2017 and a back to back team championship performance at the Buffalo Short Track Championships on October 21–22, 2017.

Early life

Simon Cho was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and moved to the United States as an undocumented immigrant with his parents at the age of four and settled in Chicago. He remained an undocumented immigrant until he reached the age of 11. Growing up, Cho recounted that life was financially difficult as an undocumented immigrant, stating, "My parents left for work before I woke up and came back home after I went to sleep. We had financial difficulties and there were times when we had no water or electricity for a few days because we weren't able to pay the bills. Other daily activities that others take for granted such as having a drivers’ license was difficult for my father". Due to a display of skill in speed skating, his parents sold their business and spent their savings to move to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

to train Cho for the sport after he graduated from

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

. Simon Cho now resides in Rockville, Maryland and when he is not coaching, he enjoys watching sports, documentaries and attending concerts.

Career

Cho began skating at the age of 3. He trained in Salt Lake City but moved back to

Upper Marlboro, Maryland Upper Marlboro, officially the Town of Upper Marlboro, is the seat of Prince George's County, Maryland. Aso of the 2020 census, the population was 652. although Greater Upper Marlboro is many times larger. Etymology Upper Marlboro was establ ...

a year before the U.S. Olympic Trials, initially quit speed skating after failing to qualify for performance grants from the U.S. Olympic Committee and U.S. Speedskating which would have offset the unaffordable costs of $40,000 for training. About his chances of making the Olympic team, Cho said, "When I say nobody thought I would make the team, literally nobody thought I would make it...Not even me". However, at the age of 18, Cho qualified for the 2010 U.S. Olympic team.

Apolo Ohno Apolo Anton Ohno (; born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno is the most decorated American at the Winter Olympics ...

noted that Cho "basically made this team training on his own". Cho cites Ohno and

Shani Davis Shani Earl Davis (; born August 13, 1982) is an American former speed skater. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Davis became the first African American athlete to win a gold medal in an individual event at the Olympic Winter Games, w ...

as mentors who helped him face challenges as being a

person of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

in the sport. At the

Vancouver Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games (french: XXIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and also known as Vancouver 2010 ( lut, K'emk'emeláy̓ 2010), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 ...

, he competed in the 500 meter and 5000 meter relay events. Cho earned a bronze medal in the relay after skating in the semifinals. On August 27, 2013, Cho received a two-year suspension from competitions after he admitted having sabotaged his

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

rival's

Olivier Jean Olivier Jean (born March 15, 1984) is a three time Olympian who represented Canada in both short and long track speed skating. Olivier Jean is a gold medalist from the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games in the men's 5000m relay. He is a canadian shor ...

's equipment during the 2011 World Team Championships. Cho claimed that he acted on an order from his coach Jae-Su Chun. The suspension ran through October 4, 2014, which means Cho missed the chance to qualify for the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

. He is now the coach of his home club, the Potomac Speedskating Club, now based in Wheaton, MD.

References

External links

ISU profile

Simon Cho
at the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

* * http://www.potomacspeedskating.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Simon 1991 births Living people American male short track speed skaters Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in short track speed skating Short track speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics American sportspeople of Korean descent South Korean emigrants to the United States World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists Undocumented immigrants to the United States