The competition marked the changing of the guard at the top of the sport, Chens triumph coinciding with what almost certainly was the final performance on Olympic ice by the man who started the day considered by many to be the greatest male skater in history, Japans Yuzuru Hanyu, the 2014 and 2018 gold medalist. And the spirit behind the exclusionary policies persists, even if theyre not explicitly codified, Lee said. Team USA sent 243 athletes to PyeongChang this year; of them, just 10 were African American and 10 were Asian American4 percent each. And our society tells them theyre not as good as men in all kinds of ways. (China does not allow dual nationality.). Soon after, his career skyrocketed to greater heights. Chens victory followed a familiar pattern set by the previous three U.S. mens Olympic champions, Scott Hamilton (1984), Brian Boitano (1988) and Evan Lysacek (2010), all of whom won their gold medals in their second Games. Chen, known for attempting high-difficulty jumps, entered PyeongChang with high hopes but ultimately struggled to execute on the ice. At the same time, we still have a long way to go when it comes to ensuring that endorsements prioritize an athletes performance over their looks, and move away from promoting an idealized standard of beauty. Bobsledder Kehri Jones, a Black woman, has a deal with Proctor & Gamble that makes her the face of Secret Deodorant in a campaign highlighting her strength. Examining the endorsement potential for Eileen Gu, Chloe Kim, Nathan Chen and other Winter Olympics standouts. Anyone can read what you share. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip), Gold medalist Nathan Chen, of the United States, poses after the mens free skate program during the figure skating event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Beijing. As Chen returns for the 2022 Beijing Games, the 22-year-old has reasserted himself as a dominant presence in the sport. After Nathan Chen crushed his men's free skate routine (while wearing an outfit designed by Vera Wang) and won the gold for Team USA, he got a stuffed animal instead of the coveted prize. On the other hand, its likely that well continue to see mostly white faces in endorsement deals because the U.S. Olympic teams are still overwhelmingly white. Figure skater Nathan Chen made historyat the Beijing Olympics, becoming the first Asian American man to earn an Olympic medal in mens figure skating singles. Ms. Gu has said her decision to compete for China was driven by a desire to grow the sport in the country. Chen, who trains in Irvine, won the gold medal. I want to be Olympic champion, Chen said. Last week, Chinese state media was noticeably silent on the gold medal win by Mr. Chen, the American figure skater, in the mens individual event, focusing instead on Japans Yuzuru Hanyu, who finished fourth, and on the Chinese figure skater Jin Boyang, who placed ninth. Their Olympic short-program session drew 48.5 million viewers, more than double the nightly average of Sochi 2014 (21.4 million) and PyeongChang 2018 (19.8 million). Hell take the ice again in the mens individual event on Tuesday (Monday night in the U.S.). The Chinese response to some of the athletes has been indifferent at best, derisive at worst. On this day, IE 11 is not supported. The implication is that heritage alone is no longer enough for Chinese American athletes to be embraced by China. Mirai Nagasu (Illustration by Margot Harrington). Likewise, his favorite basketball team is the Utah Jazz, often seen attending their games. Every brand is looking for diversity, and its an important thing for brands to have diversity, more so than its ever been.. Nathan Chen went to the West High School in Salt Lake City. Eileen Nathan Chen is a favorite for gold in men's figure skating at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Chen, who set a world record earlier this week in the mens short program, is the gold-medal favorite for the mens individual competition. Nathan Chen has good brand appeal, says John Grady, a sports law professor at the University of South Carolina. Chen was born on May 5, 1999, to Zhidong Chen and Hetty Wang in Salt Lake City, Utah, Growing up, he had siblings and wanted to be an ice hockey goalie. Come for the mens and womens hoops tourneys, stay for DJ Diesel and the Kansas State Wabash Cannondog its all waiting for you in Kansas City starting March 8. Chen, who trains in Irvine, won the gold medal. One of the final events of the Winter Olympics will be the Exhibition Gala, during which fans will get to enjoy more personality-centric performances featuring some of the Games most popular skaters. The first and only skater to land five types of quadruple jumps in competition is a marketers dream, not only as an extraordinary athlete but as an accomplished musician and student majoring in statistics and data science at Yale. Nathan Chen is Our Jordan Instagram followers: 381K Twitter followers: 90K Key endorsements: Bridgestone, Grubhub, Nike, Panasonic, Toyota, Wells Fargo Rather than painting Chens win as a racial victory, Choy said he stands as a symbol of skill and determination in the face of a history of anti-Asian bias. Nathan Chen of the U.S. during the men's single free skating event at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Thursday. Many online users called her a disgrace and suggested without evidence that Ms. Zhu had been given a spot on the Chinese Olympics team over a Chinese-born skater because of the prominence of her father, a computer scientist who relocated to Peking University from the United States. Hes better, Arutyunyan said. When the 2022 Olympic figure skating competition gets underway, three-time world champion Nathan Chen will lead a U.S. team looking to improve on its two Olympic Depending on the moment and mood, they can be shunned as traitors to the motherland or embraced as heroes who bring glory to the nation. His victories on the skating rink are earning him a net worth of $4 million. There was a time when people felt it was awesome to be American, said Hung Huang, a Chinese-born American writer based in Beijing. He started skating at the age of 3. And now he has filled the one hole in resume the Olympic gold medal. Chinese fans cheer for Ms. Gu during the freeski womens big air competition last week. Chen finished fifth overall. These spaces, while originating in the late 19th century, persisted well into the 1900s, historian Ellen Wu, author of The Color of Success, explained. But as politics between the two countries have spiraled down the rabbit hole, Chinese feel that they should not or cannot admire a country that point fingers at them all the time.. The only setback he received was at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics where he could only manage the bronze medal. After the 2016 US Championships, he got injured and had to undergo immediate surgery. Then, in October, Mr. Chen drew more criticism in China when he supported his teammate, Evan Bates, in expressing concern about Chinas human rights record. Exclusion laws were repealed, so they dont really exist in that kind of current state, Lee explained. While he was taking ballet classes, he was cast in the performances of. Instead of strapping on goalie pads, though, Chens mom gave him figure skates, sending him down a new path on the ice that included winning his first national skating title at 10. However, the Chinese duo Sui Wenjing and Han Cong will have their work cut out for them with France, the U.S. and the Russian Olympic Committee all expected to enter competitive pairs. He had the best score in the previous two Olympic short programs on his way to consecutive golds. But that anti-Asian feeling that both fostered the laws and then kind of grew.. She has a bevy of lucrative endorsements from top Chinese brands, like JD.com, Bank of China and Anta. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue), Nathan Chen, of the United States, celebrates with his coach Rafael Arutyunyan after winning the gold medal in the mens free skate program during the figure skating event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Beijing. Since then, Chen has established himself as the clear favorite and the best chance for the U.S. to win an individual medal. Heres what to know ahead of the competition and where things stand. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/5dxRkPjLLW, NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 10, 2022, Olympic Champion behavior. Overall, he leans towards scientific-based training and focuses on improving the strength and power. src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=674090812743125&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>. While the sport used to regularly spawn celebrities like Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes, its TV numbers have been in decline since the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan saga leading up to the 1994 Games. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images), Nathan Chen celebrates after completing his free skate in the mens figure skating competition on Thursday (Wednesday night PT) at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He managed to win the 201718 Grand Prix Final and the 2017 Four Continents. Jackson Skates. Being one of the most promising American figure skaters. He is a two-time Olympian, winning the gold medal for figure skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. Going strictly by the numbers in the post-Salt Lake City judging scandal scoring system, he is unchallenged. The complete roster of U.S. figure skaters is: Unlike many other Olympic sports, figure skating does not have a singular Olympic Trial in the U.S. Rather, all selections are made on a discretionary basis, with priority being granted to the U.S. One of the most highly anticipated events of the Winter Olympics, Chen will compete in the mens short program on Feb. 7 and in the free skate on Feb. 9. By the standards of Winter Olympians, who generally struggle across a fragmented marketing landscape to get even five-figure marketing deals, Chen is near the top of the heap. Wu explained that they organized, involving other marginalized groups in the process, to desegregate major bowling organizations. On Thursday he tried one final Hail Mary of sorts, opening with quad Axel, a jump so difficult it has never been successfully completed in competition. Other Asian American athletes have received endorsement deals, most notably figure skater Nathan Chen (Kelloggs, Nike, United Airlines, Coca-Cola) and snowboard phenom Chloe Kim (Nike, Burton, Toyota, Visa, Samsung, Monster Energy). On one end is 16-year-old Alysa Liu, the youngest member of Team USAs figure skating delegation. On Tuesday, he was the last skater to take the ice and earned a score of 97.24 a personal best. After the 2020 worlds were canceled because of the pandemic, Chen won his third world title last March. It was a massive letdown, one that couldnt be soothed by the bronze he landed in the team competition. Japans Yuma Kagiyama placed second with a score of 108.12. Like all Americans, Asian Americans love sports, but certainly there was social segregation, Wu said. There is a history of Asian Americans forming their own sports leagues in basketball, tennis and bowling.. And brands are betting on it. Chen, who trains in Irvine, won the gold medal. There will be a special medal ceremony for Chen on Friday where "The Star-Spangled Banner" will be played. Chen, who trains in Irvine, won the gold medal. Chen, who trains in Irvine, won the gold medal. That total leaves him well shy of the worlds highest-paid athletes, not to mention former figure-skating star Kim Yuna, who earned $16 million in 2014, according to Forbes estimates. Both Vonn and Shiffrin are Olympic gold medalists who deserve recognition, but their looks play a definitive role in the number of endorsements they receive. Published on February 19, 2022. Contrasting news coverage of Nathan Chen and Gu Ailing aims to protect Washingtons fragile self-esteem, Meet Bing Dwen Dwen's No.1 fan: Japanese journalist trends on Chinese internet for his love of Winter Olympic panda mascot, Brands scramble for Winter Olympic athletes as ambassadors, Infographic: Team 'manufacturing' at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. When Im in China, Im Chinese and when I go to America, Im American, Ms. Gu, 18, has often said in response to questions about her decision to compete for China. Prior to joining the Register in 1996, Reid worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Dallas Times Herald. Taking to the ice last in the mens singles figure skating competition Thursday at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the statistics and data science major proved himself to be the Quad King, three-time world champion and now, Olympic gold medal winner. Massive letdown, one that couldnt be soothed by the numbers in the performances of &... 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