2026 Olympics: Snowboarder Chloe Kim offers life lessons -- on and off the snow

Chloe Kim rushes to congratulate Gaon Choi, who won the halfpipe gold medal.

History will say that Chloe Kim took home silver at the 2026 Winter Olympics, her quest for a historic halfpipe "three-peat" falling just short of the top podium spot. But Kim won something much more enduring than another piece of hardware. She won by standing in her truth and lifting others as she climbed.

Chloe Kim of the United States didn’t get her Olympic three-peat on Thursday, February 12, but she might have achieved something even more enduring -- a legacy. 

Taking the silver medal with a score of 88.00, Kim proved she’s still "the baddest" in the game, competing just 34 days after a debilitating shoulder labrum tear. But the real story was who stood above her on the podium: 17-year-old Gaon Choi, the South Korean prodigy whom Kim has mentored for nearly a decade.

She’s my baby,” Kim said of Choi. “I’ve known her since she was so little.” They trained together in Mammoth Mountain with Kim often translating for Choi.

“But it’s really cool to see how much she’s progressed,” Kim said. “I met her when she literally started halfpipe snowboarding. Sometimes it feels like I’m seeing a mirror reflection of myself and my family."

When Choi surged ahead with a 90.25 to take the gold, Kim was the first to celebrate, calling it a "full-circle moment," recalling her own debut on the medals podium three Olympics ago.

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Kim's preparation was severely limited by two shoulder dislocations in the four weeks leading up to the Games. She stated after the event that she was "so proud" to have competed and medaled despite the injury.

Beyond the 'model minority' trope

Like her decision to go for broke in her last run, Chloe Kim has refused to play it safe. During a week when political rhetoric in the US turned toward immigration crackdowns, she used her platform to defend teammate Hunter Hess after he was targeted for his views on immigration.

"Obviously, my parents being immigrants, this one definitely hits pretty close to home," Kim said, pointedly adding that "diversity is what makes us a very strong country." In a world that often demands Asian American excellence remain "invisible" and quiet, Kim’s refusal to stay silent is something she encourages her young followers to continue to speak out.

By honoring her roots and mentoring the next generation—including 18-year old Bea Kim, who placed 8th in the halfpipe and 16-year-old newcomer Thai American Lily Dhawornvej, placed 20th in the big air event and is scheduled to compete in her strongest event, slopestyle, Chloe Kim serves as a critical mentor for young Asian American athletes by directly addressing cultural barriers that often discourage  participation in sports or impact the mental well-being of those in professional sports.

An all-Asian podium for the halfpipe competition. From left, Chloe Kim (US), Gaon Choi
(South Korea) and Mitsuki Ono (Japan) took the bronze medal.

Kim has been remarkably transparent about her "darkest spaces" and her need for intensive therapy following the 2022 Olympics. Mental health is often a taboo subject in Asian American communities due to cultural shame or the "collectivist" desire to hide symptoms from family and larger society.

In late 2025, she joined the "Love, Your Mind" Campaign, a major public service initiative to encourage young people to prioritize mental well-being. By normalizing these struggles, she helps the younger Asian athletes understand that mental health is a foundational part of athletic longevity.

Breaking stereotypes

Because of her success snowboarding she has busts the stereotype that casts Asian Americans as unathletic, encouraging the younger athletes that its OK to be pursue interests beyond the classroom.

Her dominant aathletic career and grit — competing in 2026 through a dislocated shoulder — shatters racist tropes that depict Asian bodies as "fragile" or unathletic.

Kim has used her platform at the 2026 Olympics to call for unity among athletes facing political or racial scrutiny, showing younger peers that they have a right to voice their opinions and do not need to remain "invisible" or "silent." 

Kim's statement on Choi's gold medal: "It's all about inspiring the next generation. It's all about passing the torch. There's no one else I would have rather stood next to on the podium than her. I'm so proud of her, and I'm so excited to see what she does next ... it was so inspirational."

Chloe Kim teaches that a win or loss does not define a person’s value. She teaches that true success is being content with who you are, rather than just what you achieve. She warns against tying your entire identity and self-worth to results. That lesson is more valuable than any medal.

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First Asian American baseball player voted NL Rookie of the Year

Diamondbacks player Corbin Carroll voted NL Rookie of the Year.

When Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll was named the 2023 Jackie Robinson National League Rookie of the Year Monday, he became the first Asian American to win that honor.

The vote was unanimous among the Baseball Writers Association of America for the 23-year old whose mother is from Taiwan.

“Definitely not the biggest guy out there on the field, but my ability to not be that guy and still be able to impact the game, that’s one piece of it,” Carroll told media during a conference call Monday.

“Not too many Asian Americans in this circumstance — I Definitely not the biggest guy out there on the field, but my ability to not be that guy and still be able to impact the game, that’s one piece of it, that I hope to inspire.”

The Seattle-raised Carrol is also the first D-back rookie in franchise history to earn the title. 

His performance this past season helped the team reach the World Series as the National League champs, eventually losing to the World Sries champ Texas Rangers.

When informed that he was the first Taiwanese American to play in the Fall Classic, he said: “Wow, that's really cool. I didn’t know that, My grandparents lived over there and my mom was born over there. Just bringing some pride and attention to Taiwanese baseball and that side of my heritage, I take a lot of pride in that.”

Other accomplishments that impressed the baseball writers:

• Became the first Rookie in MLB history to join the 25 homer and 50 stolen bases club.
• Became the first player in MLB history to record 10+ triples, 25+ homers and 50+ steals in a season.
• Became the ninth player to ever record a 20+-homer, 50+-stolen-base season.
• Ranked among Major League hitters in triples (2nd, 10), stolen bases (3rd, 54) and runs (7th, 116).
• Led MLB qualified Rookies in hits (161), triples (10), total bases (286) and runs (116).
• Became the 10th National League Rookie All-Star starter (since 1948) and first fan-elected Rookie starter since 2010…at 22 years old, he was the youngest player on either roster.
• Led the D-backs in hits (161), triples (10), runs (116), stolen bases (54), average (.285), OBP (.362), slugging percentage (.506) and OPS (.868).
• His 54 stolen bases marked the most by a Rookie in D-backs’ franchise history, ahead of Chris Young/2007 (27) and rank second all-time by a D-back in a season, behind Tony Womack/1999 (72).

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Chock-Bates: Ice dancing champions; Emily Chan and Ellie Kam make US skating team

SKATE AMERICA

Madison Chock and Evan Bates win US ice dancing title.

 It looks like ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates will be on the US Winter Olympics team in 2026 ... if they want to go.

That's a question the pair will have to ask themselves when the Olympic qualifying competitions begin in the next few years.

After their triumph by placing first at US Figure Skating Championships last weekend in San Jose, California, they are the favorites to represent the US at the Winter Games.

Chock and Bates, fourth at the Olympics and third at last March’s world championships, totaled 229.75 points between the rhythm dance and free dance. They prevailed by 22.29 over Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, the largest margin of victory in a U.S. ice dance since it was shortened from three programs to two in 2011.

“This is probably the best we’ve ever skated in our careers,” Bates said on NBC. “I think that’s the statement that we wanted to make.”

“I don’t know what the next four years will hold,” said Chock, whose full name is Madison La'akea Te-Lan Hall Chock, reflecting her mixed racial heritage. “But we’re committed to each other and our goals, and we’ll decide when the time comes.”

Chock was born in Redondo Beach, California where she went to high school. She is of Chinese-Hawaiian descent on her father's side and European descent on her mother's side. La'akea means "sacred light from heaven" and Te-Lan (德蘭) means "virtuous orchid."

When the 2026 Winter Games come around Chock, 34, and Bates, 37, competing against young athletes. They have been competing for a long time. And their trophy case is packed to the gills, with the only gaps a world title and an individual Olympic medal. And, most importantly, they are engaged to be married in the summer of 2024.

Bates, who last year became the oldest U.S. champion in any discipline in decades, has made 13 career senior nationals podiums with Chock and former partner Emily Samuelson. It is believed that breaks the US record for a single discipline that he shared with Michelle Kwan, Nathaniel Niles and Theresa Weld Blanchard.

In their career as an ice dancing team, they earned silver or bronze a total of three times.

Until this year, Chock and Bates had faced formidable rivals on the national scene – 2014 Olympic champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White; 2018 Olympic bronze medalists Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani; and 2022 Olympic bronze medalists Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, with whom Chock and Bates traded gold medals over the previous four seasons. All have retired from competition.

After last weekend's competition, they've shown they are at the top of their game.

Those records matter less to Chock and Bates than what they’re hoping is a career first in March: a world championships gold medal.

“If we don’t win gold at worlds, we’ll be disappointed,” Bates, whose first senior nationals in 2008 came when new US women’s newly crowned singles champion Isabeau Levito was 10 months old, said earlier this month. “We’ve set the goal for ourselves in the past and haven’t met it yet.”

Where are the Asian Americans?

The US figure skating team heading to World's will look very different from  recent years. At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, five of the 12 skaters were Asian American. This season, there are only three.

Besides Chock, There will be two relatively new faces for the AANHPI figure skating fans to cheer on: The paires team of Emily Chan from Texas and  Spencer Howe finished second; Ellie Kam and her partner Danny O'Shea finished third in pairs.

Olympian Nathan Chen, who won gold in men's figure skating last year, is deep into his studies at Yale and didn't compete this year. Two-time Olympian Vincent Zhou is busy at Brown University. Two-time US champion Alysa Liu retired. Karen Chen, the third US  woman in Beijing and a student at Cornell University, has not formally ended her competitive career but is not competing this season. 

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