Controversy over gold medalist Eileen Gu skiing for China misses the point

[Jilly_in_VA]

Opinion by Lincoln Mitchell

It turns out Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu and I have something in common. We were both athletes at University High School in San Francisco.

She is one of the best skiers in the world and I was the backup first baseman on the varsity baseball team, so the similarity only goes so far. I don't follow sports other than baseball, so I learned of Gu only a few days ago when I saw a picture of her on our shared alma mater's Instagram page bidding her "good luck as she represents China in her first Olympic Games."

Very shortly after that, I began seeing articles about the controversy surrounding Gu's popularity and stature -- that she is representing China in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics but was born and raised in the United States.

Given the nature of the China-US relationship at the moment, Gu's decision was bound to generate some version of this response. Some in the United States have further criticized her for refusing to discuss politics or speak out against China's human rights abuses.

The irony of that criticism should not be lost on even the casual sports fan -- because whenever athletes in the United States speak up about racism or other American problems, they are told by a large segment of the sports world some variation of "stick to sports" or, if they are basketball players, "shut up and dribble."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/opinions/eileen-gu-gold-medal-for-china-mitchell/index.html

[MN2theMax]

1. She is an amazing human being

And she can ski pretty good too. NBC did an interview with her before the event, and she seemed to me to be a feminist and an activist and a very motivated individual. She said that she want to encourage girls in China that they can do anything and that if she could convince even one young Chinese girl to take up the sport, then it would be worth it.

Her performance in the freestyle skiing was amazing!

[JT45242]

2. the other issue is the country shopping in general of Olympic athletes

If you aren't good enough to qualify where you were born and live (especially if it is the US) -- then you jump ship to claim the ability to compete for another country.

This is rampant in the winter olympics as I watch this year.

There are limits by country -- so if you aren't good enough to go, then you stay home. At the last summer games, there were a lot of swimming events that the 3rd or 4th best athlete in the world was also the 3rd or 4th best from either Australia or the US and did not get to compete. At the winter games, it seems like a substantial percentage of the athletes have jumped countries (a bunch specifically in the ice skating, dancing).

This ocuntry shopping for a spot, hurts athletes who are actually citizens of that country who lost their spot to an American. It violates the spriit of the rules that were put in place to allow smaller nations to at least have a chance to compete -- even if they don't win.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. If you read the whole article

it's just as rampant in the summer Olympics. How about the American Olympic distance runners who are almost all African? The Israeli Olympic baseball team, nearly all American? There's an Italian Olympian who is also American (and multiracial, to boot). Be consistent here, okay?