Son of South Korean immigrants, Bucks County’s Andrew Heo carries family’s Olympic dream to Beijing

Andrew Heo, his surprising U.S. Olympic berth clinched, skated across the finish line in first place and looked toward the bleachers at the speedskating trials in December at Kearns, Utah.

The 20-year-old from Bucks County started short-track speedskating when he was 7, inspired to follow his older brother. His parents, South Korean immigrants, drove them every weekend from Warrington to train in Maryland before the brothers outgrew that facility and moved to the Olympic training facility in Utah.

Heo’s father stayed home to operate his North Philadelphia auto shop while Heo’s mother lived with their sons in a Salt Lake City apartment as they trained and finished high school. The family was separated by more than 2,000 miles so the boys could chase their dreams.

And now Heo — skating around the rink after winning the 1,000 meters at the Olympic trials — wanted to find his family in the stands so he could remind them that this moment belonged to them, too.

“Everything we’ve been through as a family and everything my parents had to do to nurture our dream, it really makes me want to go for this dream of ours,” Heo said, days before leaving for the Olympics in Beijing. “It really helped me push through some of the hardest times. This is what I want to do for our family. I owe it to my parents. I want to give back to them for all they did for me. As their son, I feel like this is a way that I can repay them.”

Heo entered the final lap of his qualifying race in a dead heat with Brandon Kim, the favorite and highest-ranked American speedskater. When Heo moved in front of Kim, their skates touched and sent Kim barreling into the boards. Heo skated the final lap practically by himself. He was an Olympian.

He found the sport after his cousins, who lived in Maryland, started skating with the Potomac Speedskating Club near Washington in 2008 under the instruction of a former gold medalist Kim Dong-sung. At first, Heo was intimidated by the strict coach and opted for inline skating while his brother trained with his cousins.

Eventually, Heo gave it a shot. His mother, Jennifer, would drive her sons to Maryland each Friday after they became hooked by the sport. His father, Peter, closed the auto shop on Saturday night and traveled by bus or train to meet his family so he could drive the car home on Sunday.

“Every time I ask my parents, ‘Why did you do that? You didn’t know I was going to go to the Olympics.’ It was just a dream and a hope,” Heo said. “But whenever I ask them, they say it’s because I loved it, and I’m so grateful that my parents wanted to give me that opportunity just because I loved it.”

His older brother, Aaron, moved to Salt Lake City in 2015, before his junior year of high school, so he could train at the Olympic Oval. The Heos made an arrangement for Aaron, who reached the Youth Olympics in 2016, to live with another skater’s family and enrolled him in an online school.

He soon grew lonely, telling his parents how difficult it was to be away from home while training and going to school.

So Andrew, who was ready to start high school, asked if he could join his older brother in Utah. His parents did not want to burden the other family with hosting two teenage boys, so Heo’s mother moved with Andrew in the summer of 2016 to join Aaron.

Before leaving, Heo’s parents made a deal with Andrewl: He had to show improvement during that first summer and prove that this investment was worthwhile before they would commit to keeping him there. Heo’s times spiked almost immediately as he raced toward his Olympic dream.

“It definitely wasn’t an easy decision to make, but something I had to do to give both of my boys the opportunity they needed to further their journey. It wasn’t easy to swallow, but I had to do it for their sake,” Peter Heo said. “They were at that elite level where they needed the extra training. I saw that and I knew that. I had to support them.”

Peter Heo’s father, Joo Suk, first found work in Philadelphia repairing steel bumpers after immigrating here nearly 50 years ago with his wife and two sons. He eventually opened his own auto shop, which has now grown into two Hunting Park businesses owned by his son, near Germantown and Hunting Park Avenues.

As the rest of his family lived in Utah, Peter Heo buried himself in his work at the shop — J&S Collision & Auto Repair Center — for six days a week, staying some nights until close to 9 o’clock as he refused to leave until the repairs were finished.

He missed his family so much that he cried on the flight to Philadelphia after moving them into their Utah apartment, knowing he would be alone while his sons chased their dream. But Peter Heo just kept working, knowing his sacrifice was worth it.

The shop that his father used for a better life in a new country — “The American dream,” Peter Heo said — was now being used to fund his son’s Olympic pursuit.

“They have a grandson who’s an Olympian now. What more can you ask for?” Peter Heo said. “We’re very fortunate that the man upstairs gave us the opportunity to come to America and live our life here.”

Andrew Heo will competed Saturday in his first Olympic event, the 1,000-meter heats. He also competed in the mixed team relay. Heo qualified Saturday for Monday’s quarterfinal in the men’s 1000 meters by finishing in 1 minute, 24.106 seconds. His mixed team relay - which includes both men’s and women’s skaters - was disqualified for what judges declared was a blocking infraction on USA teammate Ryan Pivirotto.

His family wasn’t in the bleachers, as spectators have been barred from the games. But they were watching back home.

“I get emotional when I think about those moments and everything that led up to this moment,” Andrew Heo said. “Just flashbacks of everything that they had to go through. I don’t think I realized it as a kid. Most kids don’t realize it. I took it for granted.”

“But once I started to see this Olympic dream and hope of making it to the Olympics, I had to really think about how to keep the fire inside me going and something to push me and motivate me. That was my parents. It always goes back to how they brought me to this point, and what they had to do and all the hard work and sacrifices they had to make. When I look at that, it makes me realize how lucky I am.”