Olympic skater wins TV's hit dancing contest

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno on Tuesday won "Dancing with the Stars," the hit U.S. television show that pairs celebrities with professional dancers.

Ohno and partner Julianne Hough beat two other couples in a closely fought final to win the fourth season of the ABC show, which ranks as the second-most-popular series on U.S. television this season after singing contest "American Idol."

Former boy band 'NSync member Joey Fatone and partner Kym Johnson were second while world female super middleweight boxing champion Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, took third with partner Maksim Chmerkovsky.

"I feel amazing," said Ohno, whose athleticism shone through as he mastered complex dance moves. "If you put your mind to something, you give 100 percent ... anything is possible."

Ohno, 25, a two-time gold medalist in the Winter Olympics, and Hough were in the lead after being awarded 88 points by the show's three judges in the two-night final, which put them two points ahead of Fatone, 30, and Johnson and three points ahead of Ali, 29, and Chmerkovsky.

But it was a public telephone vote that sealed their victory and sent Ohno home with the mirrored disco-ball trophy.

The Tuesday night broadcast on ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co., has averaged 20.7 million viewers a week overall this season, according to ratings service Nielsen Media Research.

The fourth series of the show got off to a strong start as viewers tune in to watch Heather Mills, the estranged wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney, who was the first contestant with an artificial leg to compete in the contest. She lost her left leg below the knee in a 1993 traffic accident.

Mills, 39, a model turned social activist, survived six weeks before the public voted her and her partner, Jonathan Roberts, off the show.

Reuters/Nielsen