07:50 AM PDT on Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea - Short track star Apolo Ohno of Seattle is happy the mood has changed in Seoul since his controversial Olympic win over a South Korean skater in 2002 earned him a barrage of hate mail.

AP

Apolo Anton Ohno of the U.S., left, competes against Ahn Hyun-soo, center and Lee Ho-suk, right, of South Korea in the men's 3000m final event at the 2005/2006 World Cup short track speed skating in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005. Ohno won the event with a time of five minutes 38.465 seconds.

"I wasn't sure what to expect, but we thought now it was time to come," he told The Associated Press following the weekend World Cup meet. "It turned out for the best.

"I've had a really good reception."

Ohno's win in the 1,000-meter final at Salt Lake City came at the expense of South Korean Kim Dong-sung, who was disqualified for impeding and surrendered the gold medal to his American rival.

Fears for his safety prompted Ohno to sit out a meet at a provincial city here in 2003, along with the rest of the U.S. team. Nerves remained frayed last week as he was greeted at Incheon airport by more than 100 security officials.

But while the heavily patriotic South Korean public were still upset that Ohno's gold medal came at Kim's expense, they seem to have come to terms with it.

"There was nothing hostile about the fans, they were just happy watching the races," said Ohno, who regained the world No. 1 ranking from local skater Ahn Hyun-soo on Sunday with golds in the 1,000 and 3,000 finals.

Ohno regretted being denied any opportunity to hold a news conference in Seoul last week to show people another side to his character, which he figures has been largely demonized in the local media.

"A lot of media was shut away. I'm not sure why," he said. Maybe "certain people wanted to keep that false image."