General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLike Eileen Gu, People With Mixed Roots Are Tired of Being Told to Pick a Side
For Chinas star athlete Eileen Gu, either-or isnt in her vocabulary.
Born to a Chinese mother and American father, the 18-year-old skier grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area while straddling the Pacific. While in the U.S., she took piano, surfing, and skiing lessons. Come summer, shed travel to Beijing to study for the Mathematical Olympiad and the SAT.
Years later, shed find herself in the same city representing China at the Winter Olympics and at the center of a debate over her nationality and identity. When Im in the U.S., Im American, but when Im in China, Im Chinese, she has often said.
Gus evident rejection of identifying with only one nation has angered some critics. Though the Olympian has so far deflected questions about her dual citizenshipwhich is not recognized in Chinese lawconservative outlets have called her a traitor to the United States. In an interview last week, ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley urged the skier to pick a side. Youre standing for freedom or youre standing for human rights abuses. There is no in-between, the former Trump appointee said.
The badgering Gu has faced about her citizenship is a shared sentiment for many who dont fit into a binary.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kb7ye/eileen-gu-olympics-dual-nationality-china-us
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Of course Nimrata Randhawa is on the other side, pretty much ignoring her ancestry if not outright denying it
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)Celerity
(43,264 posts)lark
(23,083 posts)I wouldn't cheer for her because she was representing an aggressive right wing authoritarian nation, but I would support her right to compete for whichever country she chose.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)Eileen has been very upfront about why she competed for China. She wants to grow the sport. To add interest and accessibility for kids around the world.
She will do that.
Nimrata, on the other hand
all about exclusion. Eileen has already surpassed any impact Nikki will ever have on anything.
HUAJIAO
(2,382 posts)it is none of your fucking business. Go home.
Mariana
(14,854 posts)It is completely irrelevant whether her dual citizenship is "recognized by Chinese law". China doesn't get to decide who can be a US citizen, that is governed by US law alone. The US doesn't get to decide who can be a citizen of China, that is governed by Chinese law alone. She does not have to choose one or the other.
Sympthsical
(9,067 posts)iemanja
(53,027 posts)Plenty of other Americans chose to represent other countries.
Maher is such a pig.
Sympthsical
(9,067 posts)It was about China and how celebrities and companies approach it out of monetary motivations.
iemanja
(53,027 posts)with her picture, and he emphasized that "hot" freestyle skiers shouldn't be allowed to represent China.
Sympthsical
(9,067 posts)Ok then.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)'Even before she took home her first gold medal at the Winter Olympics, freestyle skier Eileen Gu racked up a fortune. The 18-year-olds 2021 earnings are estimated to be over $31.4 million, according to market research firm CBNData (link in Chinese), putting her among the worlds top earning female athletes.
How Eileen Gu became a darling of global and Chinese brands
www.msn.com/en-US/news/winter-olympics/how-eileen-gu-became-a-darling-of-global-and-chinese-brands/ar-AATQSz2
www.msn.com/en-US/news/winter-olympics/how-eileen-gu-became-a-darling-of
'
iemanja
(53,027 posts)It's just not the side many Americans would have liked her to choose.
Jilly_in_VA
(9,962 posts)(and soon there will be two of them!) has dual citizenship--US and Ukrainian. She was born in Ukraine to a Ukrainian mother and an American father. Her sister will be too, unless they are forced to remain in exile elsewhere in Europe and she's born there, in which case she may have triple citizenship! However, nobody will question them if they would decide to compete for the country they were born in, because they don't "look different". They're white. Is it only the multiracial athletes who get questioned, the ones who look "different", the ones who are darker, or the ones who decide to compete for countries we perceive to be our "enemies"? Riddle me that.
RobinA
(9,888 posts)but as a 100% American of Northern European descent, I find this brouhaha curious. To me, if you can legally participate for more than one nation you are pretty lucky and you can compete for who you want, no questions asked. I simply dont get the controversy.