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

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

a bunch of you are not true Asian "patriots" or whatever and are doing nothing improve the perception of Asians worldwide, most importantly by the American media.

You obviously have little experience in sports, otherwise you would know how important *training* and *environment* are. You have to learn about the background of someone, walk in their shoes so to speak, and the same is true for a people and society in general.

These sports that yall glorify and hawk so much, China is greatly underdeveloped in training techniques.

Furthermore you Koreans.. lol. I play much online games and yall are either hated or respected. That is unrelated, but I am reminded of your reputation. Anyway. All of the Koreans I have met IRL are not this way, but being online sure brings out the bunch of ultra nationalist morons.

Go ahead and hate China, but it is obvious that Chinese are of good height in themselves, that the tall Chinese have different facial structure and ancestry than Koreans (there are certain Korean type faces that are very prevalent), and that the Qin terracotta soldiers are accurate for Chinese then and now, and allowing for poorer growth-friendly nutrition than for the West, Chinese could grow taller.

Of those "smallish" southerners you imagine, I myself have parents from Taiwan and the Fujian coast, and it seems true what people say, that the standard variation for height in the south is less than that for the north. Nonetheless, I am among the shorter of my peers, at 5'9"+, whereas the others are mostly 5'10"-5'11".
Firestorm Sunday, July 21, 2002 at 03:22:56 (PDT)

REAL FACTS,

"I heard that the Chinese basketball team lost by 40 points to France, even with 7' 5" Ming and France sucks in basketball too.
Can you imagine if they would of went up against US Olympic team?"

I think some of your statements need clarification. First, France won the silver medal in men's basketball in the 2000 summer olympics. In the final game against the U.S., France lost by only 10 points to the U.S.. I wouldn't say a record like that sucks.

Granted, China isn't a world-class basketball power, but they don't suck, either. When they played against France, China lost by only 12 points. While China lost to the first place U.S. by 40 points, they scored 72 points against the U.S., which is rather high for any country team. The Chinese basketball team was rather young, and didn't have a great coaching staff. I read the three Chinese 7-footers fouled out of the game within the first 5-minutes; I think by now they learned the game better to avoid foul troubles. Finally, the 7'5" Yao Ming was 236 pounds back then; now he's 296 pounds and a lot stronger.

B. Lee Saturday, July 20, 2002 at 21:23:06 (PDT)

Ichiro's too goddamn small. He also plays like a fairy. If he can jack some homers, then DO IT! stop pansying around with these little slap hits, that reinforces old stereotypes. he's a cool player and all but his approach to the game is frustrating.

Now 6'5 240 Hee Seop Choi, there's a player you can set your watch to. Coming in September 2002!
to ichiro his ownero Saturday, July 20, 2002 at 20:19:37 (PDT)

Puhleaze....Coreans aint the best in asia. The reason why Coreans did so well getting into the semi-finals becoz the referee wasnt fair at all to the italians and spanish teams, and of course the coreans are playing in their homeground. I dont think corea will ever succeed till this level in the next world cup where they'll be crushed by other teams.This victory is only temporary.
Whats this abt Corea excelling in manly sports??? Everyone knows Corea sucks in swimming, basketball, gymnastics, the athletics, tennis, diving and a whole lot of other sports. So you think badminton is crap??? the reason you think these sports are crap becoz you dont excel in them, talk abt sour grapes. Yea,maybe Corea is good at taekwondo and judo and wrestling(really?) like you said, but still you are merely champions of the Asian level who couldnt really defeat the western counterparts of bigger size and strnger physique. White and blacks still rule sports. Asians are always minnows trying to be sharks, give it up.Corea is still powerless no matter how you boast.
JoeJoe Saturday, July 20, 2002 at 17:55:15 (PDT)

I'm probably going to make lots of enemies and hateful respones by writing this, but I want to express my true feelings: But, I'm sick and tired of all these Koreans coming on this board bragging how superior they are to other Asians including a sports; bragging about how much better they did in this year's World Cup (and how the Chinese made an ass of themselves). Many of you seem to forget how Korea has been in other World Cups and this was China's first appearance. Remember- not too long ago Korea's World Cup soccer team was nothing to brag about! Got news, you are not all that! I don't claim to be all that, but sometimes you need to be reminded that!
You Are Not All That! Saturday, July 20, 2002 at 12:43:08 (PDT)

Will archery be considered a manly sport by my Korean posters?

Korea has been producing most of the world's best archers for a quite some time now, particularly on women's side. Yes, I said "THE WORLD'S BEST." It's not uncommon, rather very typical, for Korean archers to simply dominate a major international competition on a way to sweeping all the medals, both in individual and team events.
Yes, Chinese are excellent archers too, but they are still a notch or two below Koreans...

Ancient Koreans were called/nicknamed "Eastern Bowmen" by Chinese scholars, and the Koreans have kept their deep love for archery even to this day. Numerous accounts/tales of legendary/excellent markmen can be found throughout Korean history and some individuals are forever admired/have become canonized in Korean folklore/folk songs for their outstanding hunting skills/notorious feats in battle fields of well-publicized confrontations/wars, etc...

Okay, I know what some of you are thinking;

On the other hand, Koreans are not as good in equestrian competition; they are better than most Asian nationalites, but they still have some ways to go before becoming the top dog in this less popular, but competitive field.

One tends to think archery and equestrianism go hand in hand, huh? Not quite so. (FYI, Korean peninsula is not conducive to riding horses. It's 70% mountainous for one thing...However, you can still enjoy archery/hunting to a great extent in this type of tough terrain. Lots of wild animals to shoot at...If you have never been to Korea, well, Korea kinda resembles Portual/Spain/Hungary, the European countries that are known for their scenic/rough mountainous topology...)

I don't think Mongolians are the best equestrians by any stretch of imagination. Shocking, eh? Sure, they are still fond of riding on their little ponies, and there might be more horses in vast steppes of Mongolia than there are automobiles or even bicycles. Also, Mongolians may be even worse in archery. But, archery and particularly equestrian sport need some government support/funding to develop prospective athletes/flourish into highly competitive world-class/Olympic-caliber competitors. And Mongolia severly fails in this regard. I mean, you can ride your little pony/wrestle with your buddy all day long in Gobi desert, but that's not gonna win you an Olympic medal tho'...

Well, let's move from topics of muscles/brawns and talk about brainpower. Yes, the game of Go/Baduk(in Korean);

Is anybody aware of the fact that particularly in recent years Koreans have been the dominant force in the Game of Go? Korean Go players simply beat up on Chinese/Japanese players -- it's not even close -- and win the top prizes in the international competitions.

Of course, you can never ever judge the intelligence of a nation by how some Go players perform in international competition -- I already feel like an idiot -- but it's an interesting to observe on an internet site. Let's get the rumor mill started; Koreans are the smartest East Asians! Haha...Of couse, I'm kidding...

Personally, you know what? I think we Koreans are some of the dumbest people in Asia, if not in the world or human history...
One Korean Man Saturday, July 20, 2002 at 04:13:07 (PDT)

AAX,

You must be completely delirious, talking about how Northern Chinese are somehow "less Chinese" because of their Manchu/Korean connection. That is bullshit, because Northern HAN Chinese tower over Koreans on average. So if Northern Chinese are better than "true Hans" because they have some Korean blood, Koreans should still be taller but that's CERTAINLY not the case. Anyways, Yao is from a more Southern region, Shanghai, so I guess he would be what you would consider a "true Han". How come you "tall, hearty" koreans can't even get a 7ft player? It's ridiculous hearing you talk about how physically intimidating Koreans are, that's certainly not my experience.

Listening to you talk, one would think that Korea wins the most medals. But no, China wins BY FAR the most medals in the olympics and Asian olympics compared to any other Asian country. Maybe China hasn't established itself in soccer yet, but it's because China wasn't open to many such western sports until only recently. During the cultural revolution, many of these activities were stopped, and were only reintroduced fairly recently.

Yes, China does pump money into it's sports machine. But most of the money goes into sports that China was traditionally good at, (meaning not recently introduced like soccer, basketball).

Sure, China's basketball is not yet world-caliber, but China only started getting into basketball in the early 90's. When China's basketball league becomes more established, it will surely produce more and more quality players. Especially if the next generation of Chinese are more exposed to basketball.

I don't even know why you guys talk about baseball. Nobody in China plays baseball, they don't give a shit about that sport. The only reason Korea plays baseball is because they were a Japanese colony, same with Taiwan.

When China gets to a more developed level and people spend more time on sports and leisure activities, there is no doubt China will produce many great athletes in all types of sports. The Chinese basketball league was only formed in the past few years, but already there has been some world-caliber players produced. Within one generation, I predict China will be a formidable world power in basketball. Forget about other Asian nations, I don't think Japan or Korea can even muster one 7 ft player, while they are not in short supply amongst the Northern Chinese provinces. It's like men playing against little boys when China's basketball team goes against Korea or Japan.
telling it like it is Saturday, July 20, 2002 at 01:01:46 (PDT)

AAX, Chinatown,Facts, and Real facts,

You guys are all silly. I'm tired of hearing, short-sighted Asians bickering among each other. Korea, Japan, and Korea each have their strengths and weaknesses.

Like it or not, white AMericans view us aas all the same and don't distinguish among Japanses, Chinese and Koreans. BY criticizing each other you a weakening the image of ASian Americans in general.
The Final Word Friday, July 19, 2002 at 22:16:53 (PDT)

The Greatest Athletes of All Times,

Just stomaching 50 hotdogs is an impressive feet by itself. I can't stand one let alone that many.
Hotdogs make me wanna puke Friday, July 19, 2002 at 21:19:19 (PDT)

AAX,

god..u are starting to sound like a whining whiteboy stop this chinabashing u fool ...we are all asians !
Asian-power Friday, July 19, 2002 at 20:12:15 (PDT)

Real facts:

Who won more medals in the Olympics?
Better facts Friday, July 19, 2002 at 16:15:19 (PDT)

I agree Kobayashi is definitely number one. Besides, its stupid to argue whether Japanes, Korean, or Chinese is better at sports. We're all "Mongoloids" and probably shared the same group of ancestors at one point before expanding to colonize the entire continent. Why compare amongst ourselves, why not step up to the plate together and compete with the rest of the world. We should discuss the importance of making more hot dogs available in East Asia at the next APEC meeting-- actually I think it's already at the top of their agenda.
Chinese guy born in Taiwan now in the US Friday, July 19, 2002 at 14:42:13 (PDT)

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