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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Comments posted during the past year remain available for browsing.

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WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]

c-web,

it's obvious that China is dirt poor compared against Korea and Japan. Just compare the GDP- per capita... sure, the goverbnment gives money to sports programs, but so does S. Korea and Japan. The truth is that most Chinese are still impoverished and unable to focus their energies in sporting achievement.
Korea's basketball team does not rank with China's. China dominates all of Asia in basketball. I think Korea only won the Asian basketball championship in a fluke once. But when China goes against Korea in basketball, the score is usually very clearly a one sided game.
facts Thursday, July 18, 2002 at 08:35:28 (PDT)

c-web, you're just a loud mouthed korean/japanese (most likely korean). You've never been to China. On the other hand, I have. so shhhhhh, and save your temper for something else, like...boxing?

And no, korean basketball is not on par with China's. The only weapon they have is the three ball. Chinese players have the three, the post, and post players who can shoot the three. The only portions of China that have strong scouting are in wealthy muncipalities and cities. The rural regions have virtually no government influence. Only in cities around the magnitude in size of Shanghai and Beijing is there even anything close to a rigorous athlete engine.

As a nation, China is poor. About the only developed regions reside on the coastline (with the exception of a few such as Beijing). Check out the GNP per capita. And did you ever notice how mainlanders look cheap, have no make up? that's indicative of the typical person, and individual excellence ultimately lies on the shoulders of the individual, not broad generalizations or a view from a macroscopic standpoint.

I adhere more to AC dropout's answer than your's (c-web). His is more reasonable, though not all-encompassing by any means.

chinatown Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 21:15:23 (PDT)

Also,

Korea is 1st in Asian soccer.
Japan is 1st in Asian baseball.
Taiwanese is the 1st in playing counter strike lol or AOE.
Asian sports fan Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 21:11:30 (PDT)

C-web,

For the more popular team sports here's a comparison between China's standings with her neighbours

Men: Better in Basketball (China and Lebannon are the only ASIAN reps for the World Basketball Champioships this summer), Badminton Ping Pong. On par in Volleyball. Worse in Soccer and Baseball (But Chinese Taipei beat Korea and Japan last year in the Baseball World Championships and finished 2nd after USA)

Women: Better in Soccer, Volleyball, Badminton , Ping Pong and softball. On Par with Korea as top asian Basketball nations). Nothing worse than her neighbours.
The above will clear things up .
Asian sports fan Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 21:09:06 (PDT)

Chinatown,

What kind of stupid post is this? First of all, China has the best sports facilities in Asia!! Don't you know that communist countries spend tons of money supporting athletes? And China is not dirt-poor. You're just as bad as the ignorant hicks if you think China is a 3rd world country. Where have you been? I just saw a program on the state-of-the-art soccer development facilities they have for their national team and youth teams. The Chinese C-League draws the most supporters out of Asia, yet the Chinese team could not score one point in the World Cup.

When most people talk sports, it's always the men's sports that are used to gauge how athletic a certain ethnic group is. You can talk all you want about the Chinese women, but they will not strenghten the belief that Chinese males are athletic.

To answer your questions regarding Korea and Japan, both countries are strong in baseball. Korea beat Japan for the bronze medal in the last summer Olympics. Even though China has NBA players, Korea is actually right up there with China in basketball. And did you not see the World Cup? Japan has a pretty good soccer team with a number of talented individuals plying their trade in Europe. Of course, Korea has the best soccer team in Asia. They have been to 6 straight World Cups. Korea always has the strongest boxers in Asia. Both Japan and Korea are strong in volleyball as well in Asia. And I don't know why you mentioned speed skating because both Japan and Korea are better than China.

Yes the Chinese are excellent in gymnastics and diving, but come on...that isn't going to garner respect like the other sports would.

This all goes back to the same argument. What's up with the Chinese? How come they're not dominant when they have the largest population (largest pool of people to select from) and the financial backing to develop athletes? Saying China is poor is so incorrect...it's only a cop-out. Nobody cares about sports like ski-jumping or equestrian. For some reason, China is only either on par or below Japan and Korea in the most popular sports.

c-web Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 12:32:39 (PDT)

To chinese male who can read chinese:

It is common sense that population of a country does give some advantage in winnning competitions and all of us knows that who has a mind of common sense. Lets say there is a country with 10000 people and the other country has only 10 people living..there is a way way way better chance of one of the 10000 people to win the competition assuming both countries are similar every way talking econimically and by cultural standards. And genetically ,there is a better chance of having a person with the superior gene in a large pool than a small pool with less number.
Of course this isn't always true because there are econimcal hardships in some big countries while there are wealthy small countries who can manage to finance there sportsmens better off.
And for the last, your idea of simulating the reality in sports by picking balls is ridiculous. 1.You have assumed half of the country's population superior. 2. Picking the superior athlete isn't chosen randomly in the REAL society, which seems like the BIGGEST error you made.
And for the last..most things aren't created equal in reality..and the chances of having more people of having either superior or inferior athletes with various genetic ability is a big PLUS for a BIG country.
A korean male with some stats Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 11:13:28 (PDT)

chinatown,

I think it more of a cultural significance. Like Japan always sweeping in Olympic Judo, or Korea always sweeping in Olympic Tae Kwon Do, or Nigera sweeping long distance running, or USA sweeping Men's Basketball.

The reason why the Chinese do well in tumbling sports ie. gymnastics, diving, etc. Is because there is a long historic culture of tumbling in traditional Chinese theater. It is not difficult to locate a high quality coach in this area in China.

Just like it is not difficult to find a high calibur coach in the USA for basketball.

Money plays some part in how many sports a country can produce athletes for. But it a lot has to do with what sports a country is interested in.

Like I have never heard of an international calibur athlete in dominating Batmington or Table Tennis coming from the USA. Most people in the USA think those sport are cheesy.
AC Dropout Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 06:55:44 (PDT)

Some Asian American male bodybuilders:

www.blazeworld.com

www.stanmcquay.com (think he's hapa)

www.kochandetka.com

AM Lifter Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 04:25:36 (PDT)

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