Asian Americans in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics

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. Few thought a comeback was possible after she battled an incurable kidney disease. But now, after helping the U.S. team win gold in the all-around team final, she has added to her individual medal count with a bronze in the individual all-around and uneven bars. 

Credit: USA Today Sports

Her wins have shone a light on Hmong Americans, many of whom ended up in Minnesota as refugees after fleeing war and genocide. According to a 2020 SEARAC report, about 60 percent of Hmong Americans are low-income and a quarter live in poverty–another reminder that the model minority, the idea that all Asian Americans are well-off, is a myth. Lee’s family couldn’t afford a balance beam, so her father had to build one himself in their backyard. Her story serves as an inspiration.

Another gymnast, Asher Hong, who made his Olympic debut this year, helped the U.S. men’s gymnastics team win bronze, the first men’s gymnastics medal for the U.S. in 20 years. Hong, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from China, grew up in Plano, Texas. 

Swimming

Swimming, another closely watched sport, has produced a new star swimmer in Torri Huske, who has won five medals at this Olympics: gold in the women’s 100 meter butterfly, 4x100 mixed medley relay, and 4x100 women’s medley relay; silver in the women’s 100-meter freestyle and women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Huske is Chinese American (her mother was born in China and her father was born in America) and from Arlington, Virginia.

Breakdancing

Speaking of firsts, breakdancing was an Olympic sport for the first time. One of the athletes is Sunny Choi, a Korean American born in Cookeville, Tennessee and now living in Queens, New York. With a background in gymnastics, Choi started “breaking” during her freshman year at UPenn. She saw it as an opportunity to free herself from a life of routine. Last year, she quit her job as director of global creative operations at Estee Lauder Skincare to focus on her Olympic dream. Another breaking sensation is Logan “Logistx” Era, who is Filipino American and the first American to win Red Bull’s BC One World Final.

Artistic Swimming

Credit: Women’s Wear Daily

Another sport where there are AAPI athletes representing the U.S. is artistic swimming, which is water acrobatics set to music. Korean American Audrey Kwon, Vietnamese American Jacklyn Luu, and half Japanese American Megumi Field make up part of the U.S. squad. This is the first time since 2008 that the U.S. is competing, and the first Olympics where men are competing. The U.S. artistic swimming team can be seen here competing to Michael’s Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.”

Here are other AAPI athletes in the U.S. Olympics team (apologies if I’ve missed anyone, compiling this list from scratch!):

  • Emily Ausmus: water polo

  • Micah Christenson: volleyball

  • Naima Fuala'au: rugby

  • Jennie Gai: badminton

  • Johnny Hooper: water polo

  • Kanak Jha: table tennis

  • Lee Kiefer: fencing

  • Ada Korkhin: shooting

  • Lucas Lacamp: rugby

  • Alexander Massialas: fencing

  • Carissa Moore: surfing

  • Collin Morikawa: golf

  • Garrett Muagututia: volleyball

  • Alena Olsen: rugby

  • Jessica Pegula: tennis

  • Rajeev Ram: tennis

  • Erick Shoji: volleyball

  • Howard Shu: badminton

  • Rachel Sung: table tennis

  • Lilia Vu: golf

  • Amy Wang: table tennis

  • Leanne Wong: gymnastics (1 of 2 alternates)

  • Justine Wong Orantes: volleyball

  • Annie Xu: badminton

  • Kerry Xu: badminton

  • Joshua Yuan: badminton

  • Lily Zhang: table tennis

  • Rose Zhang: golf

  • Beiwen Zhang: badminton

The Olympics are a time for our AAPI athletes to make their presence known not only to the world, but also to the other athletes in America. As not all sports are as widely broadcasted or well-funded, it has been great to see famous U.S. basketball stars like Stephen Curry and Anthony Edwards interacting with our AAPI athletes on the U.S. table tennis team as you can see here.

Cheering all our athletes on for not only the Olympics but all their futures!

Caitlin Ju