sports – Celebrity Scribe

It doesn’t matter if he’s competing in the Olympics or on Dancing With the Stars, Apolo Anton Ohno shows us what Commitment, Focus and Perseverance look like!

Last week 23 million people watched Dancing with the Stars and saw Apolo Anton Ohno and his partner Karina Smirnoff dance the Viennese Waltz to a tender Rascal Flats song about a woman battling cancer who only feels safe in the arms of the man she loves.

“He holds her close and for a moment she’s not scared,” says Apolo before the performance. “I am going to have to get to a place where I can show emotions I’ve never shown before.”

“I fell in love with tennis far too late in my life, but the reason I have everything that I hold dear is because tennis has loved me back. I’m thrilled, humbled, quite terrified to be honest, to stand before you. I felt vulnerable on the tennis court many times, but not quite like today. I’ve grown up in front of you. You’ve seen my highs and lows. We laughed together, cried together, but what is so clear to me standing here today is that you have given me compassion, understanding, and love – more than I expected, many times more than I deserved.”

Those words are part of the speech given by eight Grand Slam tournament winner and Olympic gold medalist, Andre Agassi on July 9, 2011 when he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Andre remains one of the most beloved players in the history of tennis and thousands of fans demonstrated their love the day he played his last game on September 3, 2006 at the U.S. Open.