The 32nd Summer Olympics were set to take place in Tokyo, Japan in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed to the summer of 2021. In the United States, the biggest American names which come to mind instantly are Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, and Muhammad Ali. However, more so than in the past, a horde of Asian-Americans are making a powerful name for themselves not only as Olympic champions but also in major sports leagues, including Nathan Chen, Chloe Kim, Karen Chen, the Shibutani twins (Maia and Alex), Jeremy Lin, Tiger Woods, and Vincent Zhou. Their appearances in the highest levels of sports bring representation to the Asian-American community.
Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi, both figure skaters, are among the first Asian-Americans to gain popularity and recognition for their awards while representing the United States. Kwan was a two-time Olympic medalist, five-time world champion, and a nine-time US champion in figure skating. On the other hand, Yamaguchi was both a singles skater and a pairs skater. She is the 1992 Olympic champion, 1992 US champion, and a two-time world champion as a single skater. As a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo, they were the World Junior champions of 1988 and two-time national champions.
In the present-day figure skating world, several Asian-Americans lead the charge on the Olympic stage. 21-year-old Nathan Chen, is currently one of the most well-known figure skaters in the world, being known as the “Quad King'' for attempting six quads and landing a quad lutz at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. He currently holds the highest combined total score and free skate score in the world, both broken at the 2019-2020 Grand Prix Final. A fellow male figure skater, 20-year-old Vincent Zhou, competed at the Pyeongchang olympics in 2018 alongside Chen. He finished 6th at Pyeongchang, holds the junior record for the free skate and combined total, and was the first skater to land a quad lutz at the Olympics. Moving onto the iconic ice dance siblings, Maia and Alex Shibutani, fellow Pyeongchang Olympians, the twins have won six Grand Prix titles, two national champions, three-time world medalist, and a bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics. They were also the first ice dancers both of Asian descent to win a title at the Olympics.
Figure skating isn’t the only sport where Asian-Americans have competed strongly at the olympic level. In snowboarding, Chloe Kim became the youngest American woman to win two gold medals at the Olympics. Kim is a four-time X Games gold medalist, and the current World, Olympic, Youth Olympic, and X Games champion in the halfpipe as well. She was also the first to win all four titles at these major snowboarding events.
Jeremy Lin is a classic name in the sports community. His popularity skyrocketed with the title of “Linsanity” when he led the New York Knicks to a winning turnaround in the 2011-2012 NBA season. Lin’s popularity further skyrocketed because he was the first Chinese or Taiwanese American to play in the NBA, and the first Asian-American to win an NBA championship. He began his high level basketball career on the Harvard University basketball team.
Much like Jeremy Lin, Tiger Woods is another well-known name in the sports community as a participant in major leagues. Tiger Woods is of Chinese, Thai, Dutch, Native American, and African American descent. His career began at the age of 20, and reached #1 on the world rankings roughly less than a year later. Woods remained the top rank golfer for five years at a time. During his career, he has won 82 PGA Tours, 41 European Tours, 3 Japan Golf Tours, 3 PGA Tours of Australasia, 2 Asian Tours, and 17 other tours, such as the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. He also holds 21 amateur titles, and golfed for Stanford University.
The résumé of Asian-American athletes is nothing to scoff at. Representation in this community breaks the stereotype of docile and solely school-smart idealization of Asian-Americans, further demolishing barriers to the acceptance of Asian-Americans in sports. With the rise of these high performing Asian-American athletes, motivation for young Asian-Americans in sports grows stronger each day, since there are many similar, powerful athletes for them to look up to. One day, these young Asian-Americans will motivate a new generation of athletes, solidifying a legacy of Asian-Americans in sports.
Sources:
“Chloe Kim.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloe_Kim.
Jao, Ariel. “11 Asian-American Athletes to Watch at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 9 Feb. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/11-asian-american-athletes-watch-2018-pyeongchang-winter-olympics-n834081.
“Jeremy Lin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Lin.
“Kristi Yamaguchi.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristi_Yamaguchi.
“List of Highest Scores in Figure Skating.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_scores_in_figure_skating.
“Maia Shibutani.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_Shibutani.
“Michelle Kwan.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Kwan.
“Nathan Chen.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Chen#Records_and_achievements.
Peng, Sheng. “7 Asian American Sports Trailblazers Who Changed the Games.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 23 May 2019, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/7-asian-american-sports-trailblazers-who-changed-games-n1006201.
Rosen, Karen. “The Quad King Lives! Nathan Chen Does Record Six Quads To Place Fifth, While Vincent Zhou Is Sixth And Adam Rippon 10th.” Team USA, 17 Feb. 2018, www.teamusa.org/News/2018/February/17/The-Quad-King-Lives-Nathan-Chen-Does-Record-Six-Quads-To-Place-Fifth-While-Vincent-Zhou-Is-Sixth.
“Tiger Woods.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Woods.
“Vincent Zhou.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Zhou.
Comments