How do you feel about Americans representing China in the Olympics?

I see this statement made all the time, but I don't think this is true. She is not some poor immigrant escaping China for the American Dream, her family is rumored to be high ranking officials in the CCP and very wealthy. She went to the US so she can leverage her connections in China go get even wealthier. Not anyone from China just comes here and pays for a Stanford MBA without blinking an eye and then work in venture capital/private equity in Silicone Valley.

She is no different than some rich American guy expanding his family business in China and then making a **** ton of money.

I think people just have a very outdated idea of national identity and patriotism. I am willing to bet every single high ranking CCP official's kids and grandkids have US/Canadian/Australian citizenship. Most have business deals in North America through their parents connections in China.

You think these kids have any sense of nationalism as you and I know? Their parents made millions by being CCP officials and in turn gave them a extremely pampered and privileged life in North America. No matter where they go they are rich and comfortable.

In Eileen's case she's just another kid who is just naive and happy in both places. She gets treated like a princess in both countries

 

At this point Xi and especially Putin have made such a mockery of this Olympics that I really wish the US athletes would together enact a boycott for the remainder of the event. I understand they’ve worked their entire lives for this moment but some things are just bigger than them.

 

I made this point in the Hangout Olympics thread but if any athlete should be competing under a different flag it is Kamila Valieva. She is being horribly used by her coaches and the Russian Federation. Her coaches and the Russian skating federation should be banned and her allowed to skate for another country.

I doubt that the Russians will allow that to happen.

 

That's easy to say if you haven't dedicated your life to achieving success in sport. I knew some US Judoka who didn't get the chance to compete in the 1980 and they were still bitter even after 40 years.

 

I know it's their lives work, and its hard to ask them to give that up. It's just a shame the mockery that Russia and China continue to make of the games. It's the one area we as a world ask everyone to put aside their differences and show friendly competition, and some jackasses just can't get through that without it being a chance to push their political agendas, or be a big d$ck competition. Victimizing 15 year olds for crying out loud. It's disgusting to watch, and probably a good reason why people actually prefer sports like Curling over figure skating at this point.

 

The IOC is a corrupt joke so I can't hate the Olympians for taking a me-first approach to it as well.

Whether they do it because it's easier to earn a spot, or because of money/endorsements, they still have to deal with the consequences of their decision in their own mind and in the minds of others for the rest of their lives.

 

Draw up a list of all the countries violating human rights during the lifespan of the modern Olympics going back to 1896, then tell me which citizens of what countries shouldn't be playing for their homeland.

 

So apparently the situation with Eileen Gu is weirder than I thought.

China doesn't allow dual citizenship, and so in order to compete for them she had to renounce her US citizenship, which she did when she was 15? But apparently you're not legally allowed to do that in the US until age 16? (lmao why can you do that at 16 anyway)

It's quite apparent she is just doing it for the money (what is more American than that!), but China is also making themselves appear corrupt hypocrites in the process (China piggybacking off American markets/ingenuity... also quite a running theme).

This is going to become a regular occurrence if the state of play remains the same going forward. Too much money on the table and China is more than happy to bend their own rules to stick it to America.

 

I have to completely disagree. The Olympics should be about the athlete's, not politics. What you are doing is to double down on the politics. Athletes should boycott because the other side is cheating? They should give up what they trained for every day and sacrifices so much for to make a political point that has no value other than making some people feel like they were able to give another country the middle finger?

F no.

 

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There's always the ability for athletes to make a decision on when and where to inject politics or whatever you want to call it in a way they want to, and live with the consequences. Its the athletes choice though, and I just hope that there's not a fear out there that athletes cannot express themselves in Bejing, and that they should just shut up and skate, or shut up and bobsled.

But I get it... I would NOT want to give up my experience I've spent my life training for if I was them. It's a huge ask to ask them to stand up to anything, or say or do anything other than just compete. I'm just saying that what is happening to the mockery being made of what should be sacred to global peace should have some sort of ramifications from the athletes themselves to ensure that this tradition doesn't just end up being nothing more than laughable propaganda from 3 world powers.

 

The answer is obvious btw.

Spoiler

 

Gu doesn't seem to me like sellout American or a China shill - rather she seems more like a child born from immense wealth & privilege who doesn't really realize it. Doesn't have to play by US rules or China rules because she has enough money to pick and choose whichever she wants. Though I mean, sending shout outs to the haters and losers is very Trumpy! So maybe she is American after all.

The vibe i get from her is more "billionaire who is going to help destroy the world and buy a compound in New Zealand as insurance" more so than CCP hack or immigrant story.

 

That's the assumption. But she has refused to answer that question. She might just be under permanent residency status to compete for China. Or China might just make an exception for her because she's golden.


Eileen Gu: US-China tension is trickiest slope for Olympic free skier - BBC News

"The Chinese Consulate General in New York told the BBC that Ms Gu would have to have been naturalised or gained permanent residency status in China to compete for its team.

In 2020, the Chinese Ministry of Justice broadened rules for foreigners to obtain permanent residency such that those who has achieved international recognition in sport, science, culture and other fields would be eligible. The expansion would seem to apply to Ms Gu."

 

I called her a traitor when I saw the GOLDs...

I think it's fine. They represent themselves first, then the country second. My judgment is on their value, political statement if any, not on who they are playing for.

Traitor was a joke.

 

NYT: She is fluent in Mandarin and visit relatives and friends in China most summers.

China seems to be a big part of her live growing up.

If you believe her, her goal is to spread the sports worldwide and China is a great start for that. Eileen Gu on Instagram: “I was ‘coaching’ a small Chinese trampoline summer camp in Beijing when we all gathered in front of the TV to watch the olympic 2022 bid.…”

Eileen Gu: It is my goal to keep trying to change the stereotype about women | YOUKU DOCUMENTARY

 

The difference is that its one thing when an athlete decides to make a political statement with an action, and entirely another when a nation-state is doing it using the athletes.

The Republicans criticizing her saying she has to pick a side are wrong in two ways. One, people from two lands don't have to pick a side, they can be both one thing and another. Legally (as the US allows for dual citizenship) as well as philosophically which is more what I am talking about. If America treasures individualism, then why are we criticizing athletes for defining their own path? She has done nothing against the US. She hasn't spied or harmed the US in any way. No one calls Nicki Haley a sellout or a traitor for abandoning her religion and name to obtain political success, so why call out Gu?

I just feel things should be more consistently applied. Yeah, people are free to call out Gu as a sellout, but if you don't apply that consistently, than I am free to call them hypocrites.

 

There is a white guy on Chinese hockey team he said for athletes they just give you a passport and don't require you to renounce anything.

 

Yeah I mean it would be one thing if we were at war with China and it was like how it would have been if an American living in one of the German towns in central Texas moved back to Germany during WW2 in order to support the motherland.

China is a huge country with many people I know that live there (well mostly in Hong Kong, but still...a few in Beijing) for work, or because they are married to someone, or for some other reason. You just don't really know why someone takes up citizenship or dual citizenship anywhere unless it's a night and day situation like Nazi Germany, or maybe something as crazy as North Korea right now. As much control as China has over it's citizens and neighboring countries, it's not like it doesn't have a ton of diversity itself in people from different cultures, backgrounds, etc.

All I know is the Right needs to take a chill pill on their Chinese rhetoric. Yes, Communism under dictatorial rule is brutal, and wrong. Yes they steal from the US, and have putrid human rights abuses. However there is unnecessary and unproductive nationalistic rhetoric that just makes things worse. This is a Xi problem more than it is a Chinese problem just as in Eastern Europe it's a Putin problem more than it is a Russia problem.

But back to the athletes, as I said... I sympathize, and understand. You could find yourself in a very very bad situation too with Xi's watchful eyes knowing your every freaking move inside that Olympic village. Not only do you just want to ski or skate, you also don't want to get poisoned for saying or doing something that dare offend the emperor. I just hate seeing see a blatant mockery of the games especially by Putin's Russia. Pumping 15 year olds with PED's. What an a$$... but I assume more people will be talking once they are back on our home turf.

 

We kinda are heading into a Cold War with them. People better pick their sides carefully...

 

I don't know what the role of the Russian gov't was in giving her that PED (or what the effects of that drug is/are). It could have been her coach, it could have been a family friend, and yes, it could have been the Russian gov't. You just don't know the story there.

I think it's really important to distinguish China as a country, culture, and people and China as political entity (namely the PRC/CCP). It's absolutely critical we don't fall into this trap.

Why do I feel so strongly about this? I used to travel all over the world, and one of the things that I was alarmed by was how people didn't distinguish the actions of the gov't from the people. We are not our gov't. Nearly every American would agree with that, and in the world, there is more awareness since the red state blue state paradigm solidified after the 2000 election. China has been a lot longer than the PRC, and its people and culture is ancient. There are a lot of things about the CCP that is absolutely despicable.

I think Biden made the right call with the diplomatic boycott but letting the athletes compete - it's up to them if they want to boycott although I imagine none will. In the modern era, there's enough social media and media in general around the games to highlight the genocide of the Uyghurs that will probably create more disapproval and shame upon the CCP then an actual full boycott which will make it defensive and angry - and given their history more likely to dig-in.

What really needs to change is that the IOC shouldn't be picking host countries that are conducting genocide.