RJ here, hanging out at the Yahoo Hollywood studio with Olympian legend Apollo Ohno. So, we got to just get it out of the way. I know everyone asks you about 2014. We know you're not gonna commit because everyone tries to get you to commit. But I do wanna know if you did do it, what would be the reason? Because there's nothing left to prove. I I I never say never. Right. So, I I don't ever wanna say that oh I'm retired. I am only 28 years old. Although my sport is a very young person's sport. Um, I'm a firm believer in that if my mind says yes, my body will ultimately be able to adapt and I can I can do whatever is necessary. So.

And is there like a deadline that you've set in your mind that by this date, I'm making the absolute decision? I think Friday. No. Perfect. You're gonna be here Friday, right? Yeah. No, I uh I'm giving myself about a year and a half, year and a half off. And when I say a year and a half off, I mean total like separation from the sport. Meaning I don't skate, I'm not training. Yeah. Yeah, I'm totally dis- Yeah. getting away from it. You know, because people don't realize, you know, my life as an Olympic athlete for so many years, I really I was living in a bubble. You know, I was such an extremist and I took my sport and I said, okay, I wanna be the absolute best that I can be at it.

And how do I achieve those goals? Whether I win or lose. And that meant shutting out all distractions. Ultimately, my life revolved around being the best athlete that I could be. Um, so, you know, other aspects of my life I I wouldn't say suffered, but they maybe they didn't they didn't grow as much as I'd like them to. And I wanna I wanna talk about the training a little bit because when you're getting ready, I mean it's intense. You know, the way you're eating and the regimen It's insane. It's insane. It's insane. A time like now, what is the training like? Do you eat whatever you want now? Do you still It's much more relaxed. It's much more relaxed.

So you know, I'll give you this example. In in 2002, I was 165 lbs. I could leg press around 1400-1500 lbs. Yeah. Ultimately, I went down to 140. And I was leg pressing like 19 1970, 1980. You know? So, just shy of 2,000 lbs. So, in order to do that, I was I was literally training. I mean, I was training from 7:00 to 7:00. I mean, literally every day. And then the times that I weren't trained and then I wasn't training was focusing on the food and the fuel I'm putting in my body, the rest and recovery, the mental preparation. So, I really took almost like a psychotic approach. And we would say it's insane. I mean, it really is. And you know, you can imagine.

Imagine spending like 15 years of your life where every waking moment of every single day is revolved around you being your best that day towards one specific goal Yep. which is essentially 42 seconds on the ice in four years. So we're talking like two ice sessions a day, which is enough which which is most of my team does just the team's workout and then then they just kind of they're cashed out.

Whereas I would go in the rink in the morning, sometimes I would bike from my house to the rink, train, bike home, eat a little bit, train at my house, bike back to the rink, train at the rink again, bike home, eat a little something, get on the treadmill, do another workout, get in the sauna, and then go to sleep. That is so not normal. It's very not normal. Not normal is very. And I don't wanna be normal. I mean, I'm not that's what I'm about. I mean. How do you do it when you're traveling? Like we were saying earlier like you haven't been since February, any one place for more than three days. Yeah, it's hard.

Like how do you how do you still stay in shape when you're on planes all the time and you're at hotels all the time? Very very difficult. It's very difficult. So, you know, I've gotten used to the yeah, the hotel room gyms. And they're your own little workout. I did a I did a 12 minute workout about two months ago, I remember. And it was very very tough. It's very tough. Yeah. Now here's what's so interesting though. I mean, we we talk about 2006 Olympics, you win. Dancing with the Stars, you win. You know, 2010 Olympics, you win.

And now your new book, it's all about you don't have to be first that you can come in third, fifth, eighth, it doesn't matter and you still essentially are a winner. You know, in in a lot of people's minds, you know, a lot of a lot of Americans come to me they say, hey, how many gold medals do you have? You know, how many how many races have you won? Um, and I think a lot of times, you know, the human psyche, we lose fact or we lose sight of the sense of, okay, what is the true meaning of what I'm really doing?

So, when I when I take a step back and look at my sport, I had four years of four years of my life dedicated towards a race that's 42 seconds long that there's truly no guarantee that I will make the podium. So, how do I make sure that I still have satisfaction and I still can continue my journey with kind of zero regrets. And when when I decided to name the book Zero Regrets, um, it wasn't exactly saying I have zero regrets. Um, it's more the pursuit, it's more I think it's the constant struggle or the constant pursuit of zero regrets. And that's where this mentality and this philosophy kinda came came to be.

So that was like my mantra is basically leaving nothing on the table, leaving no stones unturned in my preparation. Right. Because I I I've seen so many so many great athletes have tremendous potential to be much faster than I, to be much stronger than I, to have a better career than I. But they weren't willing to put forth the effort, they weren't willing to sacrifice the things that that were necessary. And um, you know, there's one world, you have one life and it's your choice. From a mindset when you approach it like that, you'll do what's necessary in order for you to become your best.