Killing the goose that lays the Olympic gold medalUS-born gold medallist Ailing Eileen Gu of China, middle, celebrates on the podium during the women's freeski halfpipe victory ceremony with silver medallist Li Fanghui of China, left, and bronze medallist Zoe Atkin of Britain. REUTERSThe Olympic Games have always been about more than sports, with the medal count serving as a measure of national vitality. For decades, the US has crowded the podium with the children of immigrants: Michelle Kwan (silver, 1998; bronze, 2002), Sasha Cohen (silver, 2006), Mirai Nagasu (bronze, 2018, team), Nathan Chen (gold, 2022), and, this winter, Ilia Malinin (gold, 2026, team) and Alysa Liu (gold, 2026). For example, the speed skater Apolo Ohno (gold, 2002, 2006; eight medals total) has a Japanese-born father, and the snowboarder Chloe Kim (gold, 2018; gold, 2022; silver, 2026) is the daughter of South Korean immigrants. The list grows longer if one includes champions descended from earlier migration waves, such as Polish-American Tara Lipinski (gold, 1998) and Japanese-American Kristi Yamaguchi (gold, 1992).

Source: Bangkok Post February 24, 2026 01:21 UTC