[The Epoch Times, February 10, 2022](Comprehensive report by The Epoch Times reporter Zhang Ting) 2022Beijing Winter OlympicsIt has caused heated discussions around the world in many ways. In addition to the accumulation of complaints about the poor quality of the food and the strict isolation policy of athletes, “naturalized athletes” has also become a hot topic in foreign media. In particular, the sheer number of foreign players recruited by China’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams has shocked experts.
The “Washington Post” published an article on February 9 that China is relying more than ever on naturalized athletes to participate in sports that have previously struggled to win medals, including figure skating, ice hockey and skiing.
The Washington Post quoted Beijing sports commentator Sean Wang as saying: “Naturalized athletes are a shortcut — a contingency plan — for the host country to catch up and improve in a certain area.”
Wang said the focus of China’s search is mainly on athletes of Chinese descent, because “for ordinary Chinese, if our national team consists entirely of non-Chinese faces, especially during the winter games held in the homeland, it may be difficult. accept.”
Beijing begins to absorb a large number of naturalized athletes, arousing concern
The Washington Post said that while naturalized athletes are common in competitive sports in many other countries, the practice is relatively new in China. Susan Brownell, an anthropologist and Chinese sports expert at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, said of China’s massive recruitment of naturalized athletes: “I was shocked when I realized it was happening. Frankly speaking , the reason it hasn’t happened before is xenophobia.”
China has long faced a series of challenges in winter sports. In November 2018, the General Administration of Sports of the Communist Party of China called on winter sports schools and associations to relax nationality restrictions and encourage overseas Chinese and Chinese-American athletes to participate in competitions.
2022Beijing Winter Olympics, the proportion of foreign players in China’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams is surprising to the outside world. The Washington Post quoted Mark Simon, a Canadian business executive who has worked with Chinese youth clubs, as saying, “It became apparent about a year ago that[Beijing realized]using only Chinese and only traditional players. It won’t work.”
In this Winter Olympics, 11 of the 23 members of the Chinese women’s ice hockey team are naturalized players; while as many as 15 of the 25 members of the Chinese men’s ice hockey team were born abroad. The men’s ice hockey team will play its first game against the United States on Thursday (February 10).
Simon said he didn’t think it sent a good message to the outside world. If you have a policy that doesn’t allow dual citizenship, but you’re saying that the only way to get a half-decent game result is to put a bunch of white people on the team, “I don’t think the public will understand”.
The CCP’s move was indeed criticized by some Chinese netizens. One netizen said: “Why are so many people not of Chinese ancestry?”
In response to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, retired Chinese figure skater Chen Lu launched an international talent search that eventually brought four American-born skaters to China for training, with only theZhu YiEntered the final entry list.
Naturalized athletes in China win or lose
The Chinese Olympic Committee’s attempt to internationalize Chinese sports has not left rabid nationalist spectators watching the foreign-born athletes closely, the report said.When all goes well, likeGu AilingAgain, the audience will take them with pride. But attempts to cross national borders can become dangerous when mistakes are made in competition or elsewhere.
Born in the United States and representing the Chinese team in the Olympic GamesGu AilingandZhu Yiand their experiences in China profoundly illustrate this point.
Gu Ailing’s performance in the Olympic Games, both on and off the court, was welcomed like a hero in China. Gu Ailing is a free skier, known as the “Snow Princess” by the Chinese Communist Party’s official media, and praised by the media as a “genius girl”, who has endorsed many brands in China. In the freestyle skiing platform competition on February 8, Gu Ailing won the championship, which was immediately “popular” on the Internet, and the CCP official media newspaper “Gu Ailing made history”.
Gu Ailing also accepted an exclusive interview with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the CCP’s highest anti-corruption supervisory body. Other ministries also reported on Gu. For example, the Department of Transportation reported a story about her grandmother. Gu Ailing also occupies a prominent position in the CCP state media.
The American media CNN said that Gu Ailing has become a typical representative of the new type of athletes established by Beijing.
At this moment, foreign media paid attention to another naturalized athlete, Zhu Yi. Since his fall at the Olympics, Zhu Yi has been ridiculed and abused one after another on Chinese social media. Nationalists insulted her for being fluent in Mandarin, questioned her suitability for the Olympics, and mocked her for “learning Chinese well before talking about patriotism.”
Zhu Yi admitted on Monday (February 7) that derogatory comments on Chinese social media had put a lot of pressure on her.
Some online commentators believe that these actions of Chinese nationalists show that they “advocate winning, rather than participation, understanding and tenacious struggle in the Olympic spirit.”
In addition, China’s uncertainty over how to deal with naturalized players appears to have led to some odd scenarios, such as Canadian-born women’s ice hockey goalkeeper Kimberly Newell saying she wasn’t allowed to appear in the media after the Feb. 6 game Answer questions from reporters in English. The Washington Post said the scene reflected Beijing’s relationship with foreign-born athletes who support Chinese sports teams.
The CCP does not allow dual nationality, but in order to absorb naturalized athletes, whether Beijing relaxes this requirement has attracted the attention of foreign media.
“I told China I would never give up my U.S. passport, and they said it was okay,” said Jeremy Smith, who plays for the Chinese men’s hockey team, according to ESPN.
Nationalist sentiment is fickle
The Washington Post reported that Chinese nationalist sentiment is notoriously fickle. At a time when relations between Beijing and Washington are at their most tense in decades, Chinese-American athletes at the Olympics, such as figure skaters Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou, have been met with indifference and indifference by Chinese nationalists. laugh at.
The Wall Street Journal said that what happened to a new generation of Chinese-American athletes has changed dramatically from that of the previous generation of top Chinese-American athletes competing on Chinese soil. Former Chinese-American sports stars, such as tennis player Zhang Depei and figure skater Kwan Yingshan, rose to prominence as heroes in China because of their ethnicity.
“Not only will Chen Wei and Zhou Zhifang not enjoy the same automatic worship, they may also have to compete in a political environment that could lead them to be labeled traitors or villains,” the report said.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#