Barbie apologizes for its oversight on omitting an Olympic Asian doll, but its more complicated than that

Toymaker Mattel says the skateboarder Barbie, upper right, was supposed to be Asian.

OPINION

If you're going to use racial diversity as a selling point for your product, you better well not forget Asians. That's what chagrined toymaker Mattel found out with its five-doll collection of Olympic Barbies.

After recently relaunching the promotion of Olympic Barbie dolls first introduced earlier this year, the company received a social media backlash criticizing the company for not including a Barbie who appeared to be Asian.

The apparent oversight was heightened because the Olympics was being held in Japan and several Asian Americans won gold medals in their events.

“Our intention to represent the Asian community with the Skateboarder doll has failed and we fully welcome and acknowledge the comments,” a spokesperson said in a press release.

Mattel said their skateboard doll was meant to represent the Asian American community, but some Twitter users said they didn’t think the Barbie looked Asian.

Each of the five dolls in the collection reflects the five new sports that have been added to the Olympics: softball, sport climbing, karate, surfing and skateboarding.

Critics point to the achievements of Asian American Olympians this year, including American gymnast Hmong Suni Lee, who was the first Asian American to win gold in the all-around gymnastics, and the Filipino American fencer Lee Kiefer, who was the first Asian American woman to win a gold medal in overall fencing and Michael Norman, who won gold as a member of the 4x400 track relay team.

RELATED:

• Barbie introduces doll of Filipino American doctor
• Tennis star Naomi Osaka gets a Barbie lookalike

Mattel has already created Barbies to honor specific Asian athletes. A doll depicting snowboarder Chloe Kim, who won gold in snowboarding at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, was released right after the Games. And a few weeks before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, Mattel released a doll inspired by tennis player Naomi Osaka.

Even earlier, a Barbie was created in the likeness of skateboarder Sky Brown, a Japanese American who won a Bronze medal for Great Britain.

“In the future, we will work to find more ways to defend all performances and celebrate the incredible achievements of all Olympic athletes, who show us that anything is possible,” said a spokesperson for Mattel.

Asian enough? From left: Kee Kiefer, Paige McPherson, Ericka Sullivan and Michael Norman

OK, the following is my take: I'm avoiding this golden opportunity to jump on the anti-big corporation bandwagon to blast giant toymaker Mattel. Perhaps the skateboarder doll included in the Olympic collection did not look Asian -- enough.

There are Asian American Olympic athletes of mixed race that some would say could pass for Whites or Black. Tai kwon do competitor Paige McPherson, sprinter Michael Norman, swimmer Ericka Sullivan, surfer Carissa Moore and even Kiefer, though they identify Asian American, don't look like your prototypical (East) Asian, the default image of Asians held by the rest of the U.S.

But for some people who prefer racial , the ambiguity provided by people who claim more than one racial heritage is not good enough even though multiracial people are the fastest growing racial and ethnic category, according to the U.S. Census. The multiracial population has grown considerably since 2010. It was measured at 9 million people in 2010 and is now 33.8 million people in 2020, a 276% increase.

Our definition and our perception of who is Asian, or what an Asian "looks" like, needs to take into account the diversity and complexity of our communities to make room for people who might look like Skateboarder Barbie, who, I'm sure, continually get asked:  "Where are you from?" and "What are you?"

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: The sky is the limit for 13-year old bronze medal winner in skateboarding

Great Britain's Sky Brown flies high at her first Olympics.

She's a bundle of optimism and energy and she just won a bronze medal in skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics. The little girl with the cool name, Sky Brown, is only 13-years old and she's already a star.

The Tokyo Games is where skateboarding was first included as a sport.

Although representing Great Britain, where her father is from Sky was born in her mother's home country of Japan. Despite her dual citizenship, she qualifies to be called a Japanese American since she  lives most of the year in California's Oceanside, with easy access to surfing and skateparks, two of her favorite activities.

“I want to inspire girls and boys because I feel at the Olympics everyone is watching me,” she told the Evening Standard . “I want to be the little girl going the highest, and some girls thinking if she can do it I can do it too.”

Having just turned 13, she’s Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic athlete, she nearly died from an accident a year ago, and she already has a million Instagram followers, a published book, her own Barbie doll and a huge Nike sponsorship deal.

Sky is one of the athletes who benefited from the coronvirus-spurred year's delay of the Olympics. In June 2020, when Olympic teams would be picked for the summer's Games, she had an accident and nearly died, according to her parents.

In June 2020, Sky fell 15ft from a ramp in training, fracturing her skull, breaking her left arm and wrist and suffering lacerations to her heart and lungs. “Sky had the gnarliest fall she’s ever had and is lucky to be alive,” her father Stu said at the time. “Sky remains positive and strong. The whole medical team is shocked to see her positivity.”

On social media while recovering, Sky posted, rather jauntily, “it’s OK to fall sometimes.”

After winning skateboarding's bronze medal, Sky Brown wants to party with friends.

When she lives in Japan, she pals around with the Japanese skateboarders, some as young as she. She has invited them over to her home for a "sleepover," something little girls like to do.

On the medal's podium, the skateboarding whiz shared the podium with Japan's gold medalist Sakura Yosozumi, 19 and silver medalist Kokona Hiraki, who turns 13 later this month. Sky refers to the pair as "two of my favorite people."

"Skateboarding is one big family," she says. "We push each other and we have fun together, and I think skateboarding is just a friendly sport."

The future looks bright for the teenager. In Paris, she wants to compete in skateboarding and surfing.

Tokyo Olympics: U.S. karateka finishes fourth with "no regrets"

USA KARATE

The United State's Sakura Kokumai's journey will not end with the Olympics.

For Sakura Kokumai, the long, lonely journey to the Olympics was as important as the medal she did not win. She finished fourth in the Olympic's karate competition in kata, a formal routine performed for technique, speed, power and mental focus.

“I am happy to be back here in Japan. It was a very special Olympics,” Kokumai said after her competition ended. “Unfortunately, I am not able to go back with the hardware but I’m pretty proud with all the performances that I did.”

Just out of medal range, she hopes she can contend again in the Olympics. Karate is not included in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but somewhere down the line, the 28-year old hopes to achieve her dream.

Born in Hawaii to Japanese parents, Team USA’s Sakura Kokumai had always associated with both the U.S. and Japan, spending most of her life going between the two countries. 

For years she prepared for the 2020 Olympics. Without a major sponsor or sports endorsements, she had to rent a room in a Japanese American family's home to train in California. She had to scrape up enough money to attend international competitions to become qualified to compete in the first Games to include karate.

Then COVID-19 happened delaying the Games for another year. Another year of renting a room and training alone.

It was during one training session in a public park when she was harassed for being Asian. She was not afraid but because of her traininig in the martial arts, she chose not to respond to the verbal attacks from the apparently mentally unbalanced man.

"I was a target because of how I looked," she said. "Not because I am an athlete. Not because I compete in karate — but because I am Asian. And no matter how you look at me, I will always look Asian."

In Tokyo, performing late Wednesday in the second week of the Olympic Games, she was in contention for a bronze medal.

In her final kata, the only American woman competing among the 40 athletes taking part in karate in Tokyo performed a suparinpei, which means one hundred and eight hands and contains techniques and variations that mimic crane movements. 

“I am happy to be back here in Japan. It was a very special Olympics,” Kokumai said after her competition ended. “Unfortunately, I am not able to go back with the hardware but I’m pretty proud with all the performances that I did.”

With karate not on the Paris program for 2024, Kokumai is hoping she’ll get another shot at a medal down the road.

“As a karate athlete, we have been doing this for the love of our sport. And I really hope that people are able to see what we do as athletes,” the karateka said. 

Watch Sakura Kokumai perform her kata at the Olympics.

With karate not on the Paris program for 2024, Kokumai is hoping she’ll get another shot at a medal down the road.

“As a karate athlete, we have been doing this for the love of our sport. And I really hope that people are able to see what we do as athletes,” the karateka said. “We train very hard — just like any other athlete — and I believe that we belong here in the Olympics. Unfortunately as of now, this is a first and last, but hopefully we will be able to make a comeback in the next few Olympics coming up.” 

Spain's Sandra Sanchez, known as the "queen of kata", won the gold medal on Thursday, defeating perennial rival and hometown favourite Kiyou Shimizu in the sport's historic debut at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Bronze medal went to Italy's Viviana Bottaro.  

“Got myself to the final medal round but not the result I wanted,” said Kokumai in an Instagram post. “A lot of thoughts crossing my mind, but one thing is for sure, I have no regrets.”

A shameless appeal: The Olympics from an AAPI lens; follow me on Twitter and at my blog, Views From the Edge

Tennis star Naomi Osaka was chosen to light the Olympic Flame to begin the Games.

FRIENDS,

If you haven't read these stories about AAPI Olympians, you haven't been following "Views From the Edge", my blog with an Asian American & Pacific Islander spin.

A wrapup of the Tokyo Olympics where AAPI left their mark.:

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

That's a lot of articles on one event, but they all have the local community angle; and for me, that community is the AAPI community. 

I'm a former journalist and government employee based in California. I've written movie scripts and was an editorial writer and had a column in a local mainstream newspaper (the good old days) after years as the editor of one of the most widely distributed ethnic newspapers in the United States. One thing I learned while writing those editorials and opinion pieces is that my opinion is as valid as anybody else's.

Besides sports, I also cover politics, pop culture, history, architecture, social and educational issues, and, once in a while, offer my personal view of what-the-hell is going on in the U.S. during these trying times. I don't want to sound like a braggart because normally, I'm very modest (if I don't say so, myself), but even if I don't have the fancy degrees or mega-platforms of other pundits, my focused voice is still a voice not often heard among the major media outlets.

I'm Filipino American so my coverage might appear to skew towards Filipino Americans, (thanks to Google metrics) but I try to give all the AAPI ethnicities and nationalities as much coverage as my one-man operation can allow and it all depends on the breaking news of the day or the issues boiling to the fore.

My No. 1 goal is to disseminate pertinent information in plain everyday language and try to avoid the esoteric rhetoric of "officialese" or "government-speak" so better resourced organizations and individuals can choose to act on the news -- or not. The choice is up to you.

So I'm asking for your help. If you like what I'm trying to do, follow me. Please no monetary donations. I don't have the bandwidth to deal with money. My payment is just for you to "follow" me, and if you like, retweet my postings. My articles are free and available for reprints.

If I've managed to pique your interest, stay current and follow me on Twitter or go directly to my blog, Views From the Edge. for more in-depth postings.

Tokyo Olympics: Spikes and digs. U.S. volleyball teams challenged; unsung hero Libero Justine Wong-Orantes

Justine Wong-Orantes, as a defensive specialist, is often seen diving for the ball.

Other countries in Asia and Europe have professional volleyball leagues. It is hard to understand why the U.S. hasn't been more successful in marketing the sport. Volleyball played at the elite level is fast, compact, exciting. and filled with attractive and interesting players.

One of the unsung heroes of the U.S. women's volleyball team is hard to miss. She's also the only Asian American on the floor -- literally, on the floor. Justine Wong-Orantes is the one usually sprawled out on the floor after diving for a dig on a hard-hit spike by the opponent. 

While only 5'6" she stands tall among her teammates who are almost all over 6 to 10 inches taller than her. While the spikers get most of the glory, the team could not be where it is without the play of Wong-Orantes, which draws praise from players,  coaches and those familiar with the game.

What also makes her stand out is the different color shirt that she's required to wear as a libero. A libero is a defensive specialist and there are certain things that the player can or can't do on offense and the standout shirt makes it easier for the official to keep an eye on what she is permitted to do.

During the years leading to the Olympics, Wong-Orantes lost her position and had to fight and train hard to win it back.

“I’ve got to give her so much credit for her resilience and tenacity,” coache Karch Kiraly told the L.A. Times. “She didn’t stop working … and now you see teams testing her and they’re not getting anything out of it, and that’s making us way better when we have somebody really solid in that position. …

Wong-Orantes, 25, is proud of her Filipino, Chinese and Mexican heritage, and she aims to use her star presence on the Olympic team to promote participation in volleyball by girls of all backgrounds.

“Definitely got people reaching out to me who’ve said how inspiring it is, so that’s really cool to hear,” she said. “Sports in general is such a huge platform for us to give back and really inspire, especially young girls.”

The U.S. team will make its quarterfinals appearance on Wednesday, Aug. 4 against a yet-to-be-determined nation. They’re looking to improve upon their bronze-medal finish in the 2016 Rio Olympics. The U.S. women have never won the gold.

* * *

Micah Chrstenson of the U.S. men's volleyball team.

The U.S. men's volleyball team, with six AAPI players on the 19-member squad, was eliminated from medal contention Sunday, losing to Argentina in straight sets, 3-0. 

“It’s heartbreaking,” said AAPI setter Micah Christenson after the Argentina loss  denied the U.S. the last slot in the quarterfinals.

“We worked really hard for this. We delayed another year to work as hard as we could for this. This isn’t the way we wanted to finish plain and simple. It’s heartbreaking.”

With a 2-3 win-loss record, the team lost to the Russians and Brazil before falling to Argentina. They topped France and Tunisia.

The U.S. had medaled at two of the last three Olympics and had not been eliminated in round-robin play since the 2000 Sydney Games, when the team went 0-5.

Tokyo Olympics: A distracted Suni Lee still earns a bronze medal on uneven bars

NBC

American Sunisa Lee didn't feel right Sunday during her uneven bars routine.

An Olympic bronze medal is nothing to sneeze at but Sunisa Lee couldn't help but sound disappointed.

The gold medal winner of the women's all-around gymnastic title last Thursday, Lee expected to do better on the uneven bars, her favorite event.

"Bars is something I really cherish," Lee said. "So when I mess it up, it really sucks.

“It really sucks because this wasn’t the bar routine I was supposed to do or wanted to do,” Lee said. “Bars is, like, my thing. I’m just kind of sad about it.”

It was the evening's high score, 15.3 that she earned for her complicated routine on the uneven bars during the all-around competition that put her in serious contention for the gold.

But Sunday night, she didn't feel right. She only scored 14.5. Belgium’s Nina Derwael won gold with a 15.2. Derwael won the last two world championships.

Lee admits the distractions that come with winning the gold medal may have affected her performance.

Since her gold medal a little more than two days ago, she has been caught in a whirlwind of interviews and social media mentions. It's a lot. As a result, judging from her uneven bars performance Sunday, it's probably too much.

Since the Olympics began ten days ago, the Hmong American's popularity has exploded. She's added 950,000 followers on Instagram, a stunning 390% increase, including 365,000 since she won the gold medal.

The fame and glory is something she wasn't prepared for. She was expecting to be playing second fiddle to Simone Biles, who was expected to dominate the gymnastics competition. Biles unexpected withdrawal to focus on her mental health needs, put Lee in the spotlight she never sought.

A bronze medal,"is really cool," Lee said. "I just wish the bronze medal was a (balance) beam medal, not bars."

Lee will get a chance to add to her gold and bronze when she enters the balance beam final on Tuesday, admittedly not her best event. A medal on vault would be a bit of a surprise.

She believes the social media was a distraction Sunday. The 18-year old Minnesotan  thinks she might avoid Twitter until the competition is over.

Tokyo Olympics: Taiwanese Americans lead U.S. fencing team to a bronze medal.

USA FENCING

Alexander Massialas, 2nd from right, and Gerek Meinhardt, far right, were part of the U.S.
team winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Sunday.

After a close loss to the Russian Olympic Committee in the semifinals, the U.S. men's foil team rallied to beat Japan 45-31 in the bronze medal match. 

Two of the  fencers who took on the trio from the home team were Alexander Massialas and Gerek Meinhardt, were Taiwanese Americans. They were joined by Race Imboden with Nick Itkin also having competed up until the second leg of the quarterfinal. 

The bronze is the second fencing medal for Team USA after Filipino American Lee Kiefer won gold in the women's individual foil. 

It is also the second consecutive bronze for the American men -- Meinhardt, Massialas and Imboden -- after the team beat Italy in Rio de Janiero in 2016. 

In the semifinals, the U.S. were upset by the Russian team, 45-41 in a see-saw battle with the lead exchanging several times before the ROC team came from behind to beat the Americans.

USA FENCING

Filipino American fencer Lee Kiefer made history with her gold medal win in individual foil.

On Saturday, the U.S. women's foil team of Lee Kierfer, Jackie Dubrovich, Nicole Ross and Taiwanese American Sabrina Massialas, lost its bid for a bronze medal when  it lost to Italy, 45-23. The U.S. women fenced for the bronze after giving the ROC team its stiffest test of the evening by losing 45-42. The Russians went on to easily win the gold by beating France, 45-23.

In the women's gold medal match, France demolished the team representing the Russian Olympic Committee, 45-28.

Newly crowned Olympic champion Kiefer said they were heartbroken that the U.S. women didn't win a medal, but fought hard the whole way.

“We lived like a family for five months and of course we wanted that medal,” said Kiefer, a Filipino American. “We’ve had such a fulfilling, beautiful journey that none of us knew was possible. We've taken our fencing to places that I think are incredible. I am filled with pride for my teammates. It hurts right now but we left it all out there. We have no regrets whatsoever.”

Tokyo Olympics: Asian Canadians win medals for their country's swimming team

Canada’s 400 free relay silver medallists (from left) Penny Oleksiak, Rebecca Smith, Maggie MacNeil and Kayla Sanchez

A pair of Asian Canadians helped win Canada's first swimming medal earlier this week.  The four-member team won the silver medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay.

Filipino Canadian Kayla Sanchez, 20, swam the leadoff leg of the race. Chinese Canadian Margaret MadNeil swam the next leg. They were joined by Rebecca Smith and Olympic medal winner Penny Oleksiak, who anchored the relay team.

Sanchez also swam in the 400m medley, swimming the freestyle leg. The Candians came in fourth in the finals.

Sanchez, the Canadian swimming star started swimming competitively at a young age after her Filipino family immigrated to Canada from Singapore, where she was born. After the Olympics, Sanchez will join the Thunderbirds of the University of British Columbia.

Margaret MacNeil wins gold for Canada.

The next day, on Monday, MacNeil won the gold medal for the 100 meter butterfly beating out international stars China’s Zhang Yufei (55.64) with Australia’s “medal machine” Emma McKeon.

MacNeil, 21, was born in China but was adopted as an infant by an Ontario family. She is a swimming star at the University of Michigan.

“It’s crazy. I’m trying to process what happened (Sunday) with the relay, because that was so incredible,” said MacNeil.

“And I still don’t think I’ve realized the whole world champion thing, so this will take a while to get used to.”

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Tokyo Olympics: Suni Lee wins gold medal in best all-around gymnastic performance

The United States's Sunisa Lee with her newest hardware, an Olympic gold medal.

With all of the media focusing on gymnast Simone Biles and her mental health struggle, Sunisa Lee focused on herself and the task at had, to do her best. Her best, it turns out, was enough to win the gold medal in all-around.

"The past two years have been absolutely crazy with Covid and my family and everything else," Lee told journalists Thursday morning after she won the event at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

"This medal definitely means a lot to me because there was a point in time when I wanted to quit and I just didn't think I would ever be here, including injuries and stuff.

"So there are a lot of emotions, but I'm definitely super proud of myself for sticking with it and believing in myself," said Lee, who is the first Hmong American to represent the U.S. in the Olympics.

The 18-year old gymnast won the women's all-around title ahead of Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, the silver medalist and the Russian Olympic Committee's Angelina Melnikova, who won the bronze.

Lee's gold medal was the fifth in a row for an American gymnast in the Olympic women's all-around.

Biles and the rest of her teammates, were in the stands to cheer on Lee, who is bound for Auburn University on a full athletic scholarship.

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Sunisa Lee on the balance beam.

Biles, who most experts had predicted to dominate the gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics, bowed out of competition earlier in the weak because of state of her mental health. Her health, she said, was day to day. It is not certain if she will compete on the individual events Sunday.

At the U.S. championships held prior to the Olympics, Lee had pushed Biles throughout the competition, actually besting the G.O.A.T. on the uneven bars, Lee's specialty.

Biles and the older gymnasts told Lee advised Lee prior tot he competition. “They told me to just go out there and not worry about anything else because I was starting to put a lot of pressure on myself,” Lee said.

Lee can add on to her gold and the silver medal earned by the team. On Sunday gymnasts will compete on individual events. Lee has qualified on the balance beam and uneven bars.

The gold medal was up for grabs up until the last event, the floor exercises. After Lee's performance, which she  made more complicated for the points, she waited until her score to finally celebrated, clapping her hands before hugging her coach. Across the Pacific, cheering broke out in St. Paul, Minnesota where family and friends had gathered to watch her historic performance on television.

The Twin Cities is home to one of the largest Hmong American communities in the United States. Lee is the American-born-and-raised daughter of Laos' Hmong refugees who fought on the side of the Americans during the Vietnam War. Thousands of Hmong families sought refuge in the U.S. after the war.

Just being in the Olympics representing the U.S. "means a lot to the Hmong community," Lee told People,  "... and to just be an inspiration to other Hmong people (means) a lot to me too."

Tokyo Olympics: Japanese American swimmer wins silver in 1,500 meter race

NBC

Erica Sullivan, left, celebrates with teammate and gold medalist Katie Ledecky.

Usually, all the media's attention is on the gold medal winner, but Erica Sullivan grabbed some of the spotlight after coming in second in the inaugural women's 1,500m freestyle.

Sullivan's Silver Medal finish Wednesday was a surprise and the first person to congratulate the Japanese American was celebrated teammate Katie Ledecky, who finished four seconds ahead of Sullivan.

In the press conference following the race, Sullivan's told the journalists, that she was the "epitome of an American person.

“I’m multicultural. I’m queer. I’m a lot of minorities. That’s what America is,” said the Las Vegas resident. “That’s what America is. To me, America is not about being a majority. It’s about having your own start. The American Dream is coming to a country to establish what you want to do with your life.”

She responded to the Japanese reporters in fluent Japanese, the result of many trips to Japan with her mother,, Maco, who watched her daughter's moment from her Las Vegas home with Erica's younger sister, Nina. Her grandfather, Sullivan said, helped design some of the Olympic facilities.

"It's surprising and it's really cool that everything just happened to line up and work out," Sullivan said on NBC's Today show. "My mom would've loved to be here, but she's at home in Vegas cheering us on."

“Just me getting to be on the podium, in Japan, as an Asian American woman and getting to take silver in a historical women’s event for the first time, as someone who likes women and who identifies as gay — it’s so cool,” she said, via the Post. “It’s awesome.”

After qualifying for the Olympics, she said about Japan, “It’s literally my second home and I love it there. I found that in recent years I tend to identify with my Japanese side more than with my American side.”

Sullivan told Swimming World Magazine, “It wasn’t until I got out of high school and I really started to crave my Asian heritage and culture, and I really honed into it. “Luckily I found a community through anime watchers, and I found my own little network that I grew to love.”

To achieve her Olympic dream, Sullivan, 20, had to overcome anxiety, panic attacks, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in the past few years after her father's death in 2017.

“I’m proud of the mental health barriers that I got through, with my dad dying in 2017 and really hitting a rock bottom in 2018 from the stress of losing a parent at age 16 and having to get over the anxiety, the panic attacks, the depression, the PTSD, all that,” Sullivan told Swimming World Magazine. “I’m so happy that I was able to overcome those.”

"The last five years, I've had a lot of struggles, and I think everyone knows that. It's pretty much (an) open book now," she said in the press conference. "But it feels good to have it all finally pay off, and I really hope I can be like a beacon of hope to anyone who's struggling with mental health or coming out or any minority that they are, to show that there's hope, and honestly me getting to do it here, where half my family is from, means the world."

Tokyo Olympics: Paige 'McFierce' McPherson battles her way to fourth in taekwando

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Paige McPherson, left, in one of her taekwondo matches in Tokyo.

Paige McPherson fell just shy of bringing home her second Olympic medal in taekwondo, but her fourth-place finish in the women’s 67 kg. class capped an impressive showing for the women of Team USA. The match also may mark the end of the Filipino American's competitive career.

"After this I’m actually transitioning out of the sport. It was kind of a sentimental day and emotional day overall just because it being the Olympics and also it possibly being my last competition eve,” McPherson said.

A day earlier, 18-year-old Anastasija Zolotic became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport with her victory at 57 kg.

PAGE McPHERSON

McPherson, also known as “McFierce” was competing in her third Olympic Games and looking for her second medal. Now 30, McPherson won bronze in 2012 and finished 11th in Rio in 2016. 

Seeded fifth in Tokyo, she got through the round of 16 with an 8-5 win over Farida Azizova of Azerbaijan, then defeated Turkey’s Nur Tatar, the fourth seed, 3-1 in the quarterfinals. A 15-4 loss to No. 1 Matea Jelic of Croatia in the semifinal meant foiled McPherson’s hopes of making it to the gold-medal match and set up the bronze medal contest against Egypt’s Hedaya Wahba. 

McPherson, from Sturgis, South Dakota, took a 5-3 lead midway through the match but Wahba jumped out to an 11-5 lead and then a head shot made it 17-6. The gap was too great for McPherson to overcome.

"I’m disappointed,” McPherson said. “I had that match and I should have listened to my own gut at the end of the day and I chose to listen otherwise, and it cost me the match.”

McPherson lost the semifinal match against eventual gold medal winner Matea Jelić, of Croatia. The U.S. Olympian then faced off against Hedaya Wahba, of Egypt, in one of two bronze medal match-ups, which she also lost.

Taekwondo is one of a handful of Olympic sports that award two bronze medals. Other sports that offer two bronze medals are boxing, judo and wrestling.

Even though she lost, she won over the hearts of the Miami community, where she lives, and grateful for the support of her family in South Dakota,

“It really is an honor to be here again for the third time. Nobody has ever done it and I was so close to another medal, but at the end of the day (I'm) just super thankful," said the Filipino American.

To “all my friends and family from there and even from around the U.S and the world. Just seeing those encouraging comments, messages and calls, I’m truly grateful,” McPherson said.

“I wouldn’t be here without you guys. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to bring a medal, but I did give it my all.”

Tokyo Olympics: Filipino American cyclist finishes 7th in road race

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U.S. cyclist Coryn RIvera in an earlier race.

It’s been 37 years since U.S. women’s cycling won an Olympic medal in the road race. Now they will have to wait another three years to try again in Paris 2024. Expect Filipino American Coryn Rivera to be battling for a spot on Team USA.

On another hot day in Japan, the United States' top sprinter, Rivera battled to seventh place behind surprise winner Anna Kiesenhofer from Austria in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 women’s cycling road race. Rivera rode a savvy race, but the heat and  humidity got to her in the end.

CORYN RIVERA

“Obviously, not what I want, but I’ve worked hard for it,” 28-year old Rivera said after the race. “I cramped, so I gave it my all.”

She turned professional at age 16 and has amassed a total of 72 US National Championships in four different cycling disciplines; road, track, cyclocross, and mountain bike. An astonishing 72 US National titles from the beginning of her career starting in the junior category, to collegiate, to U23, and now the professional category.

Rivera's latest and most prestigious title was wining the 2018 US Pro Road Race National Championships in National, Tennessee. She has competed at the highest levels of the sport such as Elite and Junior World Championships, UCI Women's World Tour, Track World Cups, UCI Road World Cups, and Pan American Championships. And is the first ever American, Male or Female, to win the Tour of Flanders, also known as De Ronde Van Vlaanderen.

She races professionally for UCI Women's World Tour: Team Sunweb and is part of the 2017 UCI Team Time Trial World Champion Team, winning the Gold Medal with her teammates in Bergen, Norway. Off the Bike, she is an alumni of Marian University where she graduated in 2015 with a bachelors degree in business marketing with a concentration in entrepreneurship.

“I’m pretty happy with it for my first Olympics,” added the racer, a resident of Newport Beach, CA. “After everything, I can be pretty satisfied.”