TGIF Feature:: 2018 Winter Olympics - 12 Asian Americans on Team USA

Hailey Langland will compete in Snowboard Big-Air at the Winter Olympics.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT!

AT MY AGE, I think it's OK for me to descibel the young Asian/American olympians as kids.

That's not meant to be an insult or to denigrate the hours upon hours of training they put into their sport, that's just a reminder, no matter the outcome of their efforts, they are among the best the United States has to offer, they're just teenagers or young adults who grew up listening to the same music, watching the same TV shows, reading the same news stories, getting basically the same classroom education as all of America's children.

But ... they are special! They'll be competing at the Winter Games being held in PyeongCheng, South Koreah which starts Fridiay, Feb. 9.

In order to reach the level of athleticism that they will be competing at, they've had to be disciplined, dedicated and willing to sacrifice their time that they might have used to do what us ordinary mortals do: make friends, go on dates, party all night, overindulge in junk food.

For the next couple of weeks, they will put everkything on the line as they compete against the best-of-the-best athletes from other countries - other kids. They will soar, twirl, race to represent their country - our country.

NBC broadcast these commercials featuring Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim - both of whom are expected to medal - to promote their coverage of the Games:

Since most people of color come from warmer climes, it is not surprising that the winter sports are dominated by people who grew up in snow country. Scandinavian countries, Germany, France, Italy, Canada traditionally do well in the Winter Games. Throw in the U.S.A,, too, because we pour in a lot of money into those developing athletes.

And let's face it: You won't find whole lot of bobsled runs, ice rinks or ski jumps in most big city neighborhoods. Accessibility to those venues is limited and the cost to go skiing is beyond a lot of people. Therefore, the winter sports don't have a whole lot of diversity.

RELATED: Filipino/American skier represents the Philippines

Team USA numbers 243 athletes, which is the largest team any nation has sent to a Winter Olympics. Of that group,  only 10 are African/American — 4 percent —  12 are Asian/American.

“We’re not quite where we want to be,” said Jason Thompson, the USOC’s director of diversity and inclusion. “. . . I think full-on inclusion has always been a priority of Team USA. I think everybody’s always felt it should represent every American.”

That's an understatement. The Summer Olympic team the USA sent to Brazil two years ago, of the 550 athletes, 23 percent (or 125) of the athletes were African/American. 

Asian/Americans on Team USA

Men's Figure Skating:

• Nathan Chen
• Vincent Zhou

Women's Figure Skating

• Karen Chen
• Mirai Nagasu

Ice Dance Pairs

• Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani
• Madison Chock with partner Evan Bates

Speed Skaters

• JR Celski
• Thomas Hong
• Aaron Tran

Snowboarding Half-pipe

• Chloe Kim

Snowboarding Big Air

• Hailey Langland

The opening ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, takes place 6-8 a.m. EST on Friday. (Feb. 9)  Don't worry, the channels will undoubtedly replay the ceremonies later in the day.
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Shibutani siblings, Madison Chock skate their way onto Olympic team

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

The Shibutani siblings, Maia and Alex, stumbled at the Nationals but still made the Olympic team.

ASAM NEWS

ASIAN/AMERICANS continued to make their presence felt in U.S. National Figure Skating Championships.

It’s being called “the most decorated, and impressive group of ice dance teams the U.S. has ever fielded for an Olympics,” but that’s little consolation for the Shib Sibs, Maia and Alex Shibutani.

The brother sister team lead by three points and had won two straight national championships going into Sundays competition.

The pair fell to Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue by just 0.19 of a point to settle for the silver.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the 2015 national champions, took the bronze. Chock is Chinese and Hawaiian on her father’s side and German, English, Irish, French, and Dutch on her mother’s side.

All three teams will represent the U.S. at the Pyongchang Olympics next month.

“We had a mistake in the diagonal that was unfortunate,” Maia said to TeamUSA.org. “We’re going to keep working hard. We have time to keep pushing ourselves.”

The Mercury News reports the Shibutanis had the best score in the short program and Chock and Bates took the long program, but Hubbell and Donahue were the most consistent placing second in each and coming away with the best overall score.

“The last two competitions were very intense, and we all know that whoever skates the best on those days is going to be ones who win,” Hubbell said. ‘We’re going to go home to keep working, keep fighting to widen the gap, but we know that our competitors are doing the same. So who knows what will happen in Pyeongchang.”

Bates said He and Chock were pleased with their skate.
 
“We’re really proud of how we skated today and just in general the way we’ve been fighting and will continue to fight,” Bates said. “The results haven’t gone our way, particularly this week, we would have loved a different result.”

In total, eight Asian/Americans made the U.S. figure skating team that will compete in the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea next month. They include:

Mens' Individual:

• Nathan Chen
• Vincent Zhou;

Women's Individual:

• Mirai Nagasu
• Karen Chen

Dance Team

• Alex and Maia Shibutani
• Madison Chock (partners with Evan Bates)

(Views From the Edge contributed to this report.)

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