Jeremy Lin on GQ Magazine
Jeremy Lin’s rise to stardom is one that will remain in the history books for Asian Americans. In 2012, his popularity became so overwhelming that it called for its own title: Linsanity. A documentary Linsanity was created to show the frenzy that is Jeremy Lin’s breakthrough career and how he rose to be the icon he is today.
Recently, the athlete appeared on 60 Minutes to share his experiences. He discussed his popularity in Asia, how he managed to balance his education with basketball, and what it meant to be an Asian-American playing basketball. When asked about the racial slurs thrown at him during games, Lin responded:
“Pretty much anything you could think of from stereotypical, you know, Asian food, you know making fun of my complexion, my skin color, or, you know, the way Asians look, pretty much everything.”
We don’t know whats in store for the future of this athlete, but we already know that he has inspired the Asian community worldwide. Watch the interview below:
Martial arts is amazing. Its skillful, beautiful, powerful and I’m more than a little proud that it originated in Asia. Are some Asians kick-ass when it comes to Martial Arts? Of course. Some of the greatest martial arts masters are Asian after all. So what’s the problem you ask?
Not all Asians know martial arts.
Being one of the only Asians in my elementary school, I came across this stereotype at an early age. It wasn’t rare for a classmate to start up a conversation with “So you know Kung Fu right?” In one particularly annoying moment, my hands were balled into fists because of the cold and a boy asked if that was a martial arts pose. While one may argue that this is simply children being children, you have to wonder- where do they get this stuff ? How does an eight year old learn to think that all Asians know Kung Fu?
What makes it worse is the idea that martial arts impedes our other abilities. My friend explained that upon trying out for the basketball team, he overheard the teammates saying ”Why is he trying out? This isn’t Taekowndo.” Of course, none of this makes sense. Asians are capable of many physical sports outside of martial arts and yet I see this far too often. Too many times have I come across doubt on someones face when it comes to an Asian performing well in sports.
“An Asian good at sports? No that can’t be! They must mean Kung Fu!”
Yes, that statement was just as silly reading as it was to type. Click on for a list of amazing Asian athletes that help break this Asian myth.
South Korea’s Kim Yuna takes gold after her triumphant return to the ice this past weekend.
Canada’s Patrick Chan takes home gold for the third consecutive year in a row at the World Figure Skating Championships.
A pair of 22-year olds took home the gold this past weekend at the ISU World Figure SKating Championships: Yuna Kim of South Korea and Patrick Chan of Canada. Kim, who took a year off from figure skating, made her return to the rink this past season and dominated in the Womens’ group, placing first in the final night of the championships (she scored 218.31 points, more than 20 points ahead from the silver medalist, Italy’s Carolina Kostner (197.89), who was the defending world champion). Chan defended his title and is now the first male skater in 13 years who have won the gold three years in a row. The Canadian also set a world record in his short program last Wednesday, with a score of 98.37.
Other Asians who also medaled in the competition were 19-year old Denis Ten of Kazakhstan (who is of Korean descent) and 22-year old Asada Mao of Japan, who both took Silver and Bronze respectively. For ten, it was the first time for a Kazakstan competitor to stand on a World podium. Ten nearly stole the show in his crowd-pleasing free skate performance set to music from “The Artist”. Check out clips from their performances below the cut!
It’s that time of year again – Forbes Korea unveiled their power ranking for celebrities for 2013. For the last two years, the nine member Girls’ Generation topped the power ranking list. Did they maintain the top position this year? Click on to find out!
Tokyo makes their official bid for the 2020 Olympics with this promotional video, “Discover Tomorrow”. Check out the cool hearts in the video!
World badminton champion Howard Bach goes for the kill in his last Olympics this summer in London.
ISSUE: Summer 2012
DEPT: Personalities
STORY: Melody Lee
PHOTO: Melly Lee
Growing up, Howard Bach had always been quite the athlete — he ran track, played baseball and soccer — but he eventually decided to stick with badminton. Today, he is a world champion in the sport and is training for his third, and last, Olympics in the badminton men’s doubles event.
At the age of 5, Bach picked up the sport from his father, who used to play back in Vietnam. He moved to an Olympic training center at the age of 16 and has since racked up a long list of accomplishments in the sport. With his partner, Indonesian American Tony Gunawan, Bach made history in 2005 when the pair won the gold medal in the men’s doubles competition at the World Badminton Championships, becoming the first American badminton athletes to ever medal at a World Championship. In 2008, Bach and his doubles partner, Bob Malaythong, made it to the quarterfinalsof the Olympic Games in Beijing, advancing farther in the Olympic sport than any other Americans in history.
Now facing his last Olympics — at 33, he’s married and has a baby boy — Bach is training hard. His regular routine consists of everything from weightlifting to track to on-court training two times a day, five days a week. Bach is hoping to end his badminton career as a full-time athlete with a medal, but regardless, he plans to stay involved in the sport and maybe even raise its profile in the U.S. “America has one of the best athletic pools around the world, yet you see mainly Asians in the U.S. playing badminton,” he says. “That mentality should change. We have a lot of athletes of different ethnic backgrounds who are equally as athletic who would definitely enjoy the game as well.”
Bach credits his family, friends and sponsors for his success. “Being an athlete, it’s not enough to just have the talent; you need to have the environment to make an athlete successful,” he says. “I always mention it as the team behind the team, the support group, and I’ve been pretty blessed to have that support group behind me.”
— Melody Lee
London 2012 – the Summer Olympics are finally here! If you have missed some of our preview posts leading up to this year’s summer games, check below for our coverage. We rounded up our picks and spoke with some of the athletes competing in this year’s games. Let us know who you’re rooting for this year in the comments below!
Sung Jin Lee (Archery) of South Korea. Image courtesy of London 2012.com.
With the 2012 London Olympics drawing near, us here at Audrey want to share with you a few of the athletes you all should keep an eye on!
South Korea will be sending many strong athletes to the games this year, including fencer Nam Hyun-hee and swimmer Park Tae-hwan.
Erica Wu is just like any other 16 year old—she’s preparing for the SAT, she loves watching Glee, and she thinks Michael Phelps is hot. The only difference is that she might just get the chance to meet Phelps when she heads to the London Olympics as a table tennis player for Team USA.
Dedication is an attribute that every Olympic athlete needs and Rena Wang is no exception. Having taken the past two years off from school in order to train rigorously in badminton, Wang’s hard work is finally paying off.
