Apolo Anton Ohno poses with a group of kids.

In stark contrast to his previous skating experiences, two-time Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno, who hosted a one-hour speed skating clinic for mentally disabled youngsters in Beijing on February 17, needed to be more patient and much slower to allow the children to learn from his fluid skating movements.

 The 29-year-old American Olympic champion came to China, a country with more than 1 million special needs athletes, to boost awareness of the incredible power of the Special Olympics, and to promote the Special Olympics World Winter Games to be hosted in Pyeong chang in 2013, as well as to unite the world in acceptance of all people with intellectual disabilities.

"To be honest, when I learned I would be training the children I felt like it was my first race, my heart began to race. I hardly knew how to communicate with them, not to mention how to teach them to skate. It was a trial for both the children and me," Ohno told the Global Times. "I was shocked by their capacity to understand what I was teaching."

Ambassadorial role

Along with retired Chinese NBA star Yao Ming, popular domestic TV anchor Yang Lan, and famous actress Zhang Ziyi, Ohno became a global ambassador for the Special Olympics this year, a life-long commitment.   

To help raise public awareness of the Special Olympics in the region, Ohno arrived in China fresh from a visit to his father's homeland of Japan, and was keen to get more people involved in promoting the organization.  

"The Special Olympics may not be as well known in China as perhaps the Olympics or the Winter Games or short track speed skating," he said. "I think the goal is to have as many athletes as we possibly can join and learn how to skate and how to do some type of physical activity."

 "You have not seen inspiration in its purest form until you have witnessed a Special Olympics athlete competing. They strive to be better than they were yesterday, a philosophy, I believe, we should all live by every day. To that end, I'm excited to bring awareness to this transformational movement."

According to the World Health Organization, 3 percent of the world's population is intellectually disabled, which makes it the world's largest disability group. The Special Olympics, founded in 1968, is an international organization that changes lives through the power of sport by encouraging and empowering those with intellectual disabilities.

The Special Olympics movement has grown from a few hundred athletes to more than 3.7 million athletes in over 170 countries and regions all over the world, providing year-round sports training, athletic competition and other related programs.

This year, Special Olympics athletes in China will receive a series of winter sports training sessions as a focus to prepare for the 2013 Pyeongchang Special Olympics World Winter Games. The movement is hoping to leverage the World Games to expand the growth of winter sports in China, by providing more training opportunities, and making more winter sports venues available for Special Olympics athletes to enjoy the fun and variety of winter sports.

Ohno's passionate support of the Special Olympics began in 2010 when he traveled to Singapore to help develop their speed skating program. He then participated in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, and most recently attended the announcement of the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games being awarded to Los Angeles. 

He regards himself an advocate for Special Olympics because he strives every day to be his best, hoping to inspire the 3.75 million athletes of Special Olympics to do the same. 

Timothy Shriver, the Special Olympics chairman, said of Ohno's Asian tour, "We greatly appreciate Apolo's passion to share in the pride and joy with our athletes and bring the world's attention to our movement in Japan and China."

The young ambassador will next travel to Changchun, capital city of Northeast China's Jilin Province, for a few days to continue his promotion.

Personal challenge

As a speed skater, Ohno has never been one to shy away from a challenge and he has yet to rule out the prospect of competing at a fourth Winter Games in 2014. 

He has won eight short track speed skating medals, including two golds, at three Winter Olympics.

When asked whether he will be at the 2014 Winter Games, he said he would definitely be in Sochi one way or the other.        

   "I will be there in 2014 but I am not sure if I will be skating or not," said Ohno.  "I may have one of those microphones or you may see me in my helmet," he said, despite not having skated competitively since the Vancouver Games in 2010.     

Ohno estimated he would need 15 months of preparation if he returns in 2014, including three months of physical conditioning, and a further year on the ice to be able to compete for medals in Russia.     

Although Ohno has committed himself to public welfare awareness in recent years, Ohno said he is not ready to hang up his skating boots after 15 years in the sport.  

"It is true that I am taking a break away from speed skating now, but the things that I devoted my energy to are all I care about and are related with my sport," he said. 

"It's primarily a question of if I want to continue to pursue this sport again one more time," he noted.  

"I will always love short track speed skating. I will always be drawn to the sport. I lived it, I breathed it. It was my life."

Reuters contributed to this story