Tweets About Apolo Ohno At The Olympics Show How Much Fans Missed Him

The 2018 Winter Olympics have finally begun, and on Friday night all of the world's best athletes marched into PyeongChang, South Korea as part of the opening ceremony. But the most famous American athletes were actually doing more than joining in the festivities... one was actually covering them as a reporter! Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno talked to all the athletes before they entered, and Twitter was shook Apolo Ohno was there, but not to compete this year. Though Ohno grabbed Olympic gold medals in both the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2006 Olympics in Turin, the decorated speed skater was only at this year's Winter Olympics to interview the U.S. Olympic team at the opening ceremony.

Olympics fans were in for a bit of a surprise when the opening ceremony started on Friday night. Before all those giant animal puppets, beautiful dancing, and the march of the nations, a few NBC commentators gave American viewers some fun background details on the athletes representing us this year. Well, one of those reporters understood what these Olympic athletes were going through more than anyone else, because he had competed in three Winter Olympics. Yep — that was none other than Apolo Ohno, the most popular speed skater in the United States, who was interviewing Team United States before the opening ceremony in PyeongChang.

Of course, seeing an Olympic athlete behind the mic instead of in front of it at the ceremony was pretty unexpected for a lot of viewers, who may remember Apolo Ohno best as one of the biggest U.S. Olympic athletes back in the mid-2000s. While watching Ohno conduct his interviews (complete with his signature soul patch), everyone on Twitter shared how excited they were to see Ohno back at the Olympic games... even if it was just as a reporter this year.