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Shani Davis talks Sochi with former teammate Apolo Ohno

Shani Davis

Shani Davis smiles after competing in the men’s 1,500 meters during the U.S. Olympic speedskating trials Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013, in Kearns, Utah. Davis won the event. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

AP

Few athletes know Shani Davis better than Apolo Ohno.

Ohno, the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian of all time, has known Davis for 18 years. They used to skate short track together.

Ohno, now with NBC Olympics, recently sat down with Davis as he prepares for the Sochi Olympics. In February, Davis could become the first U.S. man to win the same Winter Olympic event three straight times.

He chatted with Ohno for TODAY about why he trains alone, his road to Sochi, which began as a kid on the South Side of Chicago, and his drive to make history.

“It’s just a mentality that I’ve always had, since I was younger,’' Davis told Ohno. “I probably learned a lot of that from you [Ohno], seeing you train. Training together, we always pushed it 100 percent. We were never ones to leave the day without knowing that we did our best. So we would go hard, go all in.”

Speed skaters’ gruesome road to Sochi

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