Note: I originally wrote this for the blog I run for the AAPI nonprofit, Project by Project (blog here). I wanted to spread the message wider.
The Summer 2024 Olympics in Paris are coming to an end soon, on August 11. It has been 2 weeks of dazzling displays of athletic prowess, moments of heartbreak, and times of controversy, like when athletes had to swim in the polluted Seine River.
Sports have always brought people together, but rarely do they unite whole countries like they do in the Olympics. Countries worldwide pin their hopes for glory on their Olympic athletes. In the United States, people from all different backgrounds compete, often training for four years between each Olympics for their big shot.
Asian American and Pacific Islander athletes have continued to break down barriers in American sports, and their effect is amplified on the world stage.
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is often one of the most talked about sports at the summer Olympics,and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team had high expectations for 2024. Suni Lee, who won the gold medal in the all-around competition in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, more than stepped up. Lee, who is Hmong American and a St. Paul, Minnesota native, became the first ever female Asian American all around champion in 2020…
