Asians in American Sports | Asian American Poll

ASIANS IN AMERICAN SPORTS
(Updated Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 06:39:09 AM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Which male athlete has done the most to promote the image of Asian American men?
Tennis Player Michael Chang | 36%
Pitcher Chanho Park | 23%
Golfer Tiger Woods | 8%
Linebacker Dat Nguyen | 13%
Rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki | 14%
Left Wing Paul Kariya | 6%

Which female athlete has done the most to promote the image of Asian American women?
Figure Skater Kristi Yamaguchi | 19%
Pool Player Jeanette Lee | 1%
Figure Skater Michele Kwan | 58%
Golfer Se-ri Pak | 22%

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WHAT YOU SAY

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chinatown, I'm glad to hear there are ballers in china but being able to dunk and playing NBA, world-class basketball are two very different things. Look at all the colleger hoopsters in the USA who can dunk like a mother but can't even get on a team, much less play one second of pro ball. China's team (Yao Ming and other high-profile Chinese players were members) in last year's University Games was barely able to hang on and beat a shortish US team made up of second-tier college players. What China needs is to get an American coach. All Asian countries have ability they just don't have the know-how to be successful against the world. The South Korean and Japanese soccer teams know this.

X Friday, July 05, 2002 at 01:49:38 (PDT)

All of this without proper nutrition...imagine if that was not the case.

Chinese of the north were known to be tall since the Tang Dynasty. Even the terra cotta stone warriors of the Qin Dynasty were exceptionally tall.

China back then had good nutrition. No one would argue that it was the richest nation back then with very adequate food supplies. But, as the population increased, the food got more scarce. But, northerners are still a tall group today.

By the way, what happened to another basketball player from China (Ma Jian) who once tried out for the L.A. Clippers a couple of years ago? Is he retired or still playing?
tri Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 23:05:11 (PDT)

Few of you know that soccer was invented in China and that basketball was invented by Mexico's indigenous Aztecs.
world sports Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 22:59:36 (PDT)

That goalie was a phreak of nature ,

THE SHORTEST PERSON IN THE CHINAA TEAM IS 176cm thank you very much!!! Thats the same as the average of american people! Hehehe Now! Most I saw after clicking on their profiles was 183cm.. thats 6ft buddy! HA AH HA HA HA I win.
OHYEAH Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 05:20:04 (PDT)

Even though I'm not Korean (Im Chinese), I am very glad that Korea team made it to semi-finals. Korean team played with grace and heart. They deserve our admiration and praise. I know many people especially the Italians and Communist Chinese think it's bad refereeing that gave the advantage to the Korean team but that still do not depreciate how the Korean team played. They were good sports and never played dirty. In fact all the asian teams, Japan and China had sportsmanship and teamwork but I think Korea should be singled out as being great examples to follow. Those Koreans are simply amazing!!! Hold your heads high regardless of what everybody says!! Thumbs down to North korea for trying to ruin the party and shame on my countrymen for being jealous. I think China team can learn from Korea team and Japan team too.
booboo Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 01:45:37 (PDT)

Dear Chinatown:

Thanks for the compliment. I appreciate that someone understands my point because the criticisms about the CBA as a challenging league has got to diminish. In existance for about 6 years, it has already brought international spotlight with Yao Ming. And with many NBA teams in need of size, imagine a brand new horizon for basketball being a world wide game, not just the U.S.A. with many European talents and Asian talents to come with the dedication and heart to make the NBA finals truly a world championship series. Many doubt when people say that the NBA finals is for a world championship, but with the emergence of talented players around the globe including Asia, I can honestly say that it is now truly for the "World Championship" because every player represents a country and winning that championship is like sharing the championship with their country and the world.
Ray Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 19:30:44 (PDT)

Korea team fighting:
I generally agree with what you posted. I don't know why Italians have a problem getting beat by a Corean team, they got whipped in 1966 World Cup by North Corea. LOL
Italians play dirty soccer, just like the Brazilians and Argentines, this has always been their reputation. Spain played well but Spain always come up short. What two Spainsh goals? People forget the referee's whistle blew and the Corean goalkeeper didn't even attempt to play the ball. So there was noooo two goals.
I hope Spain win it in 2006.

Reds Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 18:19:15 (PDT)

Marianne,

Vous etes Francaise? If you are, I was sorry to see France drop out so early in the World Cup.
Red Devil Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 22:29:39 (PDT)

Oh yeah,

The fact that the Goalie on China's national team was 6'6" (198 cm) probably helped jack up the average height. I must admit that the American team was exceptionally short, with the exception of the goalie who was 193 cm (6'4").
That goalie was a phreak of nature Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 22:24:52 (PDT)

Ray, thank you. There are many American players overseas playing in China. And just NBA player who comes to mind is David Benoit (recent member of the Utah Jazz, about 6'11, black, can dunk), who played alongside Yao Ming as the Shanghai Sharks (Dongfang Da Shayu duai) made their Championship run this year. CBA (the Hilton Leaguem aka Chinese Basketball Association), is hardly a shelter for short players. The shortest player on Wang Zhizhi's former team is 5'11 (Bayi Rockets), and he's quite close to being the shortest player in the entire league. Anyone seen Kobe Bryant's Diary on MTV? a number of sizeable Chinese people with dunking ability. Among the CBA stars are dunkers like Wang Bo, Jiao Jian, along with proven players such as Liu Yudong and Gong Xiaobin.

On another matter, my fellow tall Chinese do have a history of hailing from the north. The disparity between northerners and southerners in the area of height is never disputed, as the national census held northerners to be a full 2-3 inches taller than their southern counterparts (among men). The average height of northern Chinese is over 5'8, making them the tallest population in Asia, with Koreans at second, averaging slightly under 5'8. That's a great deal of difference in a single country, or even between two seperate nations. And the north has a even greater standard deviation than the south, so in all likelihood, don't be surprised to see unusually tall people. All of this without proper nutrition...imagine if that was not the case.
chinatown Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 16:34:58 (PDT)

I'm Korean-American and I think Korea deserved to win against Italy...but not against Spain. Italy was being prissy and trying to draw fouls by pretending to be hurt (recall Totti pretending to be raked in the eyes). However, I believe Spain played a much better and fairer game than Italy and that several calls were questionable. The officiating worries me because it does seem to take away from the achievements of the Korean team. However, it cannot be denied that Spain just came up short when it was most important, yet acted with much more class at the end of the game. Korea vs. Germany. Could have gone either way I think...but the officiating was generally fair. I think Korea suffered more from having little recovery time than any officiating in that game. In the first round, they were noticeably faster than any team in their group...even supposedly speedy Portugal. However, the speed difference continued to diminish with every successive game in the knockout rounds. It has been an interesting WC and I hope to see more Asian players in European leagues.

KM, 25 Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 13:04:15 (PDT)

Korea did good in the world cup. some people will blame it was bad officiating that gave korea the advantage. I would say korea did get some breaks. But, to say that korea cheated is just not true. Believe it or not if you go to soccer web-site many people think this is the case. Korea just out work Italy. Italy just can't accept the idea of losing to an asian country. Against spain you could make a good argument about bad officaiting. But, there were calls against korea. I think Korea had more fouls to. So, to say that korea had to cheat is just not true. Korea was lucky in beating spain. another point when korea was playing against turkey. there was a kick that was onside but the whistle blew and said it was offside. If korea got that goal it would of been a tie game and overtime would be allowed. and who knows who would of won. Against Germany Korea should gotten a free kick but did not get it. Over all Korea benefitted some calls and also did not get calls.
Regardless of that korea made a statement to the world. I don't know if the world is listening but it is saying we are here and are just as good as anyone else.
Go Korea
korea team fighting Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 12:27:48 (PDT)

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