Grinding Gears: Olympians are defying Asian stereotypes

Let’s be honest: When you think of the stereotypical athlete, you don’t think of someone of Asian descent. When you think of Olympic legends from Team USA, Asian Americans don’t usually come to mind.

This is why I am proud of what has happened so far at the Winter Olympics in South Korea. There are a record 13 Asian Americans competing for the United States, and half of the 14-person figure skating team is Asian American — also a record. Of these athletes, two — snowboarder Chloe Kim and figure skater Mirai Nagasu — have already become household names, and a third — figure skater Nathan Chen — is expected to contend for a gold in the free skate.

Kim claimed gold in the women’s snowboard halfpipe on Tuesday, essentially clinching first place on her first run. She then tweeted about being “hangry,” before proceeding to drop a 98.25 on her victory lap by pulling off back-to-back 1080s — a really hard thing to do — just for the fun of it.

Nagasu made history on Monday when she became the first American woman to complete a triple axel — also a really hard thing to do — in the Olympics. And despite falling during his Olympic debut in the team skate, Chen is heralded as the next big thing and will have all eyes on him in a matter of days.

My fellow columnist Julia Poe touched on a similar lens earlier this week when she wrote about Adam Rippon, a gay and outspoken American figure skater, and his impact on the LGBTQ community. Rippon’s personality is magnetic, his skating is authentic and his interviews have become must-watches. He is an inspiration, a role model for those who may look at him and say, “If he can make it, so can I.”

I feel the same way about Asian American athletes. There aren’t a lot of role models out there for us. Until I figured out I wasn’t good enough at basketball to play professionally, I dreamt of making the NBA. By default, I idolized Yao Ming, not for his height, but for his identity and what he represented. He was all we had. Before YouTube existed, I spent my free time foraging NBA.com for his highlight clips and I’d make my family watch them with me. I took such pride whenever he scored on guys like Shaquille O’ Neal, and I recall voting for him multiple times every year to make the All-Star team.

I’m sure many others who grew up in my generation have similar experiences, much like today’s kids might look up to someone like NBA star Jeremy Lin. It’s not like we only look up to athletes of our own skin color — I may or may not have an actual painting of Stephen Curry hanging in my room — but there’s something especially comforting about seeing another person from your heritage and culture make it big, especially a culture that has been as underrepresented and stereotyped as often as Asians have been.

People like to say that we are smart, not athletic. Specifically, we are book smart, not street smart. We are supposed to be in the classroom or in the lab, not on the field or in the weight room or the press box. Believe me, I’ve gotten my fair share of glances when I walk into press boxes filled with predominantly white, middle-aged men.

This is a stereotype that may not be as explicit as stereotypes for other cultures. But it’s there. We all think it, whether we want to or not. And it takes something like what’s happening in the Olympics right now to change it.

It takes Chloe Kim, who looks like any other 17-year-old kid but with extraordinary abilities, to command a snowboard, to inspire the next Chloe Kim, to propel that young girl sitting in class to believe that people like her can make it to the Olympics.

Kim’s father arrived in the United States from Korea in 1982 with $800 in his pocket and quit his job to help Chloe achieve her Olympic dreams. Her background is so relatable to children of immigrants like me, whose parents did similar things so their kids could have a better life. Same with Nagasu, whose parents own what NBCSports.com describes as an “unassuming Japanese eatery” in Arcadia, Calif. They actually missed their daughter’s historic triple axel because they were working the dinner rush.

Or Maia and Alex Shibutani, the American sibling duo who became the first ice dance team of Asian descent to win a medal when the U.S. captured bronze in the team event earlier this week.

“When we started skating together, Maia and I didn’t see any teams on the ice that looked like us,” Alex wrote on Instagram. “Throughout our career (14 years and counting), we have had to, and will continue to push past stereotypes, labels, doubters and cynics.”

It takes people and stories like this to blaze a trail, to change minds and break stereotypes. It takes viral moments like Kim tweeting about wanting ice cream in between runs or figure skater Vincent Zhou snapping back at a reporter who tweeted that ice skating wasn’t a sport to show that not only are these talented athletes, but they also have vibrant personalities like any other star athlete.

I doubt that such stereotypes will sweepingly vanish any time soon. It will take more than a few stories or tweets for the erasure of racism. But what we’re seeing thus far in these Olympics is promising and gives me hope for the future.

Eric He is a junior majoring in print and digital journalism. His column, “Grinding Gears,” runs Thursdays.