Q&A | Will skater be swift in dance shoes?

Our favorite man-in-sausage-casing — shorttrack speed skater and five-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno — glides into the ballroom when "Dancing With the Stars" premieres tonight.

Yes, that show: the one that's prompted hundreds to take up the tango (C'mon honey. It's fun!). The one that, last season, vaulted the NFL's Emmitt Smith to stardom. The one that's now got fans wagering about whether the prosthetic leg of Heather Mills (the estranged Mrs. Paul McCartney) will stay put. (Mills, who clearly has a sense of humor, told "Extra" it'd be funny if her leg "knocked one of the judges out.")

Ohno, 24, is our homegrown knockout, his popularity bolstered by appearances on a Wheaties box, in Gap ads, on "People's" 50 Most Beautiful People list and — some females might recall excitedly — the cover of Cosmo's "Finally, Topless Guys!" issue. (For the record, he's single.)

Now, "Dancing" viewers will get to debate whether Ohno's cha cha is flirtatious. Does his quickstep twinkle? Does his rumba make us swoon?

Last Wednesday Ohno phoned from Los Angeles, where he was still recuperating from jet lag. Two days earlier he had arrived from Milan, where he took the gold at the speed-skating World Championships. And just prior to the interview, Ohno had spent six hours in dance rehearsal. He sounded tired, admitting it's not easy to keep up with the demands of the ice and the ballroom.

Q: Vincent Pastore ("The Sopranos") had to drop out as a contestant because he said he couldn't handle the athleticism.

A: The physical work is no problem. It's just the learning. They [the other contestants] will have had four weeks [of rehearsing]. I'll essentially have had one week.

Q: What about the mental preparation?

A: It's much different than skating. It's not as easy as it looks. It looks easy on TV.

Q: How did the dancing go today? Men sometimes have trouble moving their hips.

A: My hips are good to go. They're not a problem. It's just finding the time to choreograph everything and putting everything together.

Q: You breakdanced on MTV's "TRL." How much ballroom dancing experience have you had?

A: Zero. And "TRL," that was the first time I breakdanced in years.

Q: Do you dance, say, at weddings?

A: A little bit. I don't go to too many weddings. I've danced going out with my friends, at a club. But Latin dancing, ballroom dancing is totally different. It doesn't matter if you're a great hip-hop dancer; it's totally different.

Q: Ballroom dancing requires a lot of confidence.

A: It's kind of like "fake it till you make it."

Q: You're nearly perpendicular when you skate. Is that going to give you some kind of advantage here?

A: I actually have bad habits because of speed skating. My back's rounded, relaxed and I'm in a crouched position. And in dancing everything is proper, straight, aligned.

Q: Who approached who to be on the show?

A: They approached me. I had watched the show and liked it. I thought it was really cool seeing someone be so successful in one thing and then be in a totally different ballgame.

Q: Who've been your favorites to watch?

A: I liked Mario [Lopez] and Emmitt. I thought Mario was absolutely an amazing dancer and Emmitt, he had his own style.

Q: How do you feel about the dance outfits. They can be revealing.

A: I'm used to wearing tights, but that was for sport purposes. You won't see me walking in the mall in a speedsuit.

Q: Will you wear a bandanna?

A: Uh, maybe sometimes. We'll see.

Q: Will you still wear the soul patch?

A: Are you kidding me? Absolutely.

Viewers might also want to know that Ohno's mane, at least for the show's premiere, is to be coiffed by hairdresser dad Yuki, who's flying in from Seattle.

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com