Tokyo Olympics: Wrapping up the Olympics for AAPI athletes

Japanese American Michael Norman won a gold medal as a member of the 4x400 relay.

The Tokyo Olympics ended Sunday. Some athletes got all the media attention they could handle. NBC didn't bother with the lesser known sports because Americans were not in contention for a medal. 

Some AAPI athletes medaled, others simply tried their best and that is all we can expect from these Americans of Asian descent. Nevertheless, they are all champions and role models. They left their stamp on these Games and in the world of sports.

The  Olympics of 2021 were like no other Olympics, with the cloud of the coronavirus hanging over the entire event. 

Athletes retire and others begin the long road to prepare for the next Olympics in 2024 that will be staged in Paris.

We met several AAPI athletes as their names were splashed throughout American media outlets: Suni Lee, Lee Kiefer, Carissa Moore and Sky Brown among them and many who this blog overlooked. AAPI athletes competed without the glory and the spotlight for their country or the identification of their ethnic background. There are probably more that could be added to the stories written by this blog. My apologies if I didn't tell their stories, all of which tell the story of America.

Track: 4x400 men's relay wins gold

It's been a nightmare for the U.S. men’s track and field team, but Japanese American Michael Norman took it especially hard.  

He heard all the criticism back home. Questions about if this is the worst U.S. men’s team of all time and their lack of gold medals. He had expected to win a medal in the 400m individual race but had to settle for fifth place. Norman was so upset, he couldn't speak to the interviewer after the race. He was clearly upset because he so badly wanted to perform well for his relatives in Japan as well as for the U.S.

Some even claimed the U.S. sprinters choked in their races. 

However, in the last track and field event of the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, Norman and teammates, Michael Cherry, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin got redemption in the finale of the 4x400 men's relay leaving the competition in the dust to win the U.S. men's first gold medal in the sprints at the Tokyo Games.

“What we did on the track today was phenomenal. I’m proud of the guys. On the track, today was about the 4x400 and USA track and field. You got to put your own selfish interests to the side and just go out there and really run for others,” Norman said. “I’m glad we were able to accomplish this goal."

Justine Wong-Orantes saves the ball before it hits the floor.

Volleyball: U.S. women beat Brazil in final to win first-ever gold

All that was missing was a cape; the way Justine Wong-Orantes was flying around the court saving out-of-bound balls back into play or diving for impossible digs. 

Spikers may get all the glory but the U.S. wouldn't have won the gold without the play with the Olympics No. 1 libero.

The play-by-play announcers kept repeating praises for the play of Wong-Orantes allowing the Americans to beat a strong Brazil team, 3-0, to win the program's first gold medal.

Badminton: A serious injury hurts chance at advancing

The best hope for the U.S. to get its first medal in badminton went down in flames in the round of 16 for women's singles when America's Beiwen Zhang suffered an injury that forced her to withdraw from the match against China's He Bing Jiao.

Zhang won the first set and was in the midst of winning the second set when the scary injury occurred.

She suffered an Achilles tendon tear that required surgery. She was flown back to the U.S. immediately for the surgery.

“Beiwen is already focusing on what is next and immediately getting back to the States to begin the recovery work and to return to the court.” said team leader Alistair Casey.

Jordan Windle of the U.S. diving team

10m Platform: Diving for two countries and his foster father

Jordan Windle finished 9th in the 10-meter platform diving competition but that didn't make his story any less compelling.

Windle said he was diving for two countries, the U.S. and Cambodia, the land of his birth. He was also competing for his single father, who is gay. Windle was adopted when he was 2-years old, sickly and weighing only 1i6 pounds.

“Without him making all the sacrifices that he has, and his love and support the whole time we’ve been together, I really wouldn’t be where I am today," Windle said about his father. "I have him to thank for everything, all my accomplishments. It’s been an amazing journey with him, and we’re still rolling.”

Skateboarding: No. 1 ranked skateboarder fails to make finals.

Despite his No. 1 ranking prior to the Olympics and reigning world champion, Heimana Reynolds of Hawaii, did not make it to the finals of the Olympics’ inaugural men’s skateboarding park competition in Tokyo today.

The 23-year old Reynold's score of 63.09 was second in his preliminary heat (the first of four flights of five skaters each). But high scores in the ensuing rounds knocked Reynolds out of the top eight who advanced to the finals.

Reynolds, who is of Tahitian, Hawaiian, Filipino and Chinese heritage. fell on his first two attempts. But on his third and final 45-second try he performed an impressive and clean run for a 63.09 score. At the time, it put him second behind fellow American Zion Wright, who scored 67.21 on his first attempt.

Table tennis: Still waiting

The U.S. is still without a medal in table tennis. Liu Juan, seeded 67 out of 70, gave it her best shot, advancing to the round of 16 before losing to 14th seed Yu Mengyu of Singapore.

The U.S. hasn't reached the quarterfinals since 2008. The highest-ranked player is 21-year old Kanak Jha, ranked No. 25 in the world. Among the women, Lilly Zhang is ranked No. 28. 

Other members of the U.S. Olympic Table Tennis team are Huijing Wang, Nikhil Kumar and Xin Zhou.

Related stories for this Olympic Games:

Sky is the limit for 13-year old skateboarder

For karateka, the journey is as important as the quest for a medal

Libero is unsung hero of the U.S. women's volleyball; men disappointed in showing

Taiwanese American fencers lead U.S. team to a bronze medal

Asian Canadian swimmers secure medals for their country

Hmong American Suni Lee wins gold for women''s all-around gymnast

Japanese American swimmer wins silver in 1,500m freestyle 

Paige McPherson battles her way to fourth in taekwando

Filipino American cyclist pedals her way to seventh in road race

Surfing super star Carissa Moore brings medal home to Hawaii

Huge upset as Naomi Osaka beaten on Olympic tennis

With Simone Biles out, all eyes turn to Suni Lee

Filipino American fencer Lee Kiefer wins gold and makes history

Despite surge of hate, AAPI athletes proud to represent United States

Volleyball bonds Shoji brothers with other AAPI teammates

Naomi Osaka lights torch at Olympic stadium

U.S. fencing team has led by Asian Americans

Hawaiian skateboarder jumping and rolling towards an Olympic medal

U.S. AAPI shuttlers hope for first medal in badminton

British Golf Open champion Colin Morikawa flying to Tokyo

Asian Americans form nucleus of US. table tennis team

Tokyo Olympics: US shuttlers seek first medal in badminton

U.S.A. BADMINTON

Beiwen Zhang hopes to medal in Tokyo.

Like table tennis, Asian Americans make up the entire US Olympic badminton team.

The US has never won an Olympic medal in badminton since it became an Olympic sport in 1992. This year, the American badminton world may see the medal drought end.

Beiwen Zhang, the 12th-ranked eligible player in the Race to Tokyo rankings, has competed for the U.S. since 2013, and this will be her first opportunity to play on the biggest stage. She most recently secured a gold medal in women’s singles for the U.S. in Guatemala at the XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2021. She has beaten several of the highest ranked players in the world, including Olympic medal winners who she'll compete with in Tokyo.

Zhang's was born in 1990 in China, where she lived until the age of 13 when she moved to Singapore. For almost a decade, she played internationally for that nation.

In 2011, she moved to Las Vegas where she faced the shocking reality that her sport doesn't have the same level of popularity that it enjoys in Asia. 

Unlike top players from countries where badminton is widely popular, Zhang doesn’t have a national training facility where she regularly goes to practice. Badminton is a sport that major sponsors seeking endorsements for their product seem to overlook the swatters of the shuttlecock. Shoe manufacturers like Nike, Puma and Addidas and makers of sports equipment such as Under Armour and Wilson don't seek out badminton players.

It's understandable, Zhang and other members of the U.S. Olympic Badminton team  are not household names and ESPN gives more air time to the National Spelling Bee than to badminton.

The lack of badminton’s widespread popularity in the U.S. would make an Olympic medal mean even more to Zhang.

Zhang made headlines three years ago when she started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $5,500 to cover her travel expenses to the 2018 world championships after she qualified for the major tournament. She ended up surpassing her fundraising goal in less than a week.

In addition to not having a regular training site in the U.S., Zhang doesn’t have a coach who attends her matches and assesses her game. She has to determine on her own her strengths and those areas of her game that need improvement.

To maintain the competitive edge, the shuttler still trains in Singapore with Yonex and some sponsors in Hong Kong and her own funds being her only financial constants. Additionally, Asia is where she can play the world's top players compete in major tournaments.

Ryan, left, and Phillip Chew compete in men's doubles.

Zhang hopes a place on the Olympic podium will change the status of her sport in the U.S. Other members of the team are: Ryan and Phillip Chew in Men's Doubles and Timothy Kan in Men's Singles.

The Chew brothers are doubles partners in badminton, share Zhang's dream of medaling in Tokyo but they know that history and the odds are against them.

“We are definitely underdogs compared to Asia and many strong pairs in Europe coming out. But our goal is, of course, to medal. … And if not, hopefully in future Olympics to come, we can bring the sport to become a medal-winning sport as well,” Ryan says.