For many U.S. Olympic figure skaters, immigrant heritage yielded a champion’s mind-set

[Sylvia]

A companion thread to: Mirai Nagasu to skater Vincent Zhou: Can’t we be friends?

This article is by Liz Clarke of the Washington Post (original link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...dd8702-15eb-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html ) and this is an alternate link to read the story: https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/21/us-olympic-figure-skaters-immigrant-heritage/

Excerpts:

Of the 14-member 2018 U.S. Olympic figure-skating team, six are of Asian descent. Nagasu’s parents are first-generation Japanese immigrants. The parents of Zhou and Nathan Chen are first-generation Chinese immigrants. Karen Chen’s parents emigrated from Taiwan in 1995. And siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani, whose Japanese parents met as musicians at Harvard, became the first ice dancers of Asian descent to win Olympic medals Tuesday, when they took bronze.

“I think the Russians and the Asians dominate our sport right now because I can see a cultural mind-set of, ‘Nothing is ever good enough,’ ” said Zakrajasek, who sees the same quality in his pupils Zhou and Nagasu, as well several of his Russian-American charges. “No matter how good you are, (the mind-set is) you figure out how to be better, and you do that in every way in your life — as a person, in academics, in your sport, if you play an instrument. It’s an approach to life that makes it very easy as a coach to work with someone like that. … That’s not common, I think, in American society nowadays.”

Veteran figure-skating coach Frank Carroll, who worked with the United States’ most decorated skater, Michelle Kwan, echoed the sentiment.
“Asian skaters are taught discipline from Day One,” Carroll said in a recent telephone interview, “which is different from American kids, who are taught, ‘Oh dear! You have a right to stand up for whatever you think!’ … Are you being abused by a coach who is telling you to do it again?'”

 

[Vagabond]

All of which explains why Adam Rippon and Bradie Tennell are on the U.S. Team and why Chris Reed, Keegan Messing, Isadora Williams, Alexi Paganini, and Nicole Rajičová are not.

 

[attyfan]

Important to remember, IMO, not only in light of the many years that there were laws excluding immigrants from Asia but in light of the current debate.

 

[livetoskate]

The writer forgot to mention Madison Chock. I heard from someone that Chock is a common last name of people who emigrated from China long ago. Apparently Madison is of Chinese and Hawaiian heritage. It's not mentioned much but neat to hear more about everyone's family history, including that of Tom Z. Also, it was mentioned somewhere that the Shibs have a grandparent who was born in Korea.

 

[feraina]

I think it’s wonderful to be able to stand up and think for yourself. The same parenting philosophy that teaches the child to always obey an authority figure like a skating coach is also one that expects the child to always obey the parents. Hence all the cases of extra involved Asian skating parents. See for example Nathan Chen’s vow to pay back his family’s sacrifices by obeying all their wishes in the Olympic season.

It cuts both ways.

 

[Shutomei]

I think it’s wonderful to be able to stand up and think for yourself. The same parenting philosophy that teaches the child to always obey an authority figure like a skating coach is also one that expects the child to always obey the parents. Hence all the cases of extra involved Asian skating parents. See for example Nathan Chen’s vow to pay back his family’s sacrifices by obeying all their wishes in the Olympic season.

It cuts both ways.

Asian Americans do have that ability to stand up and think for ourselves. We are, after all, Americans.

However, we have also grown up in a bi-cultural society. Hence, Chen's vow to pay back his parents is not unusual. We take care of our parents because they deserve it for all the sacrifices they've made on our behalf.