Kristi Yamaguchi and I are both mothers of two. But she likely had to be all those things to go where no one who looked like her had gone before, so that other, more complicated, less “perfect” Asian American celebrities could follow. She was poised and cool and beautiful in the face of hate she checked the boxes required of an all-American champion. Perhaps she channeled pioneers like Jackie Robinson, who faced the exceptional challenge of desegregating his sport and enduring physical and emotional threats-often having to “turn the other cheek.” (Though Robinson did not always bite his tongue.) Yamaguchi benefited from the path that Robinson and others paved, but competing at the highest level in a predominately white sport still required her to stay conscious that any “wrong” move could reflect poorly on an entire community. Yamaguchi’s fame brought with it a heavy burden of being the “perfect” celebrity. Why Second-Round Draft Picks Won the NBA Trade DeadlineĮagles Fans Would Celebrate a Super Bowl Win With a Dangerous Tradition. The Truth About That Controversial Super Bowl Call The Unprecedented Collapse of a College Basketball Powerhouse

Chin’s career left a lasting impact on the skating world-but she likewise never achieved mainstream fame. At the 1984 Olympics, Chin finished fourth, and in 1985, she became the first Asian American U.S. In figure skating, Yamaguchi’s most important forerunner was Tiffany Chin.

2 men’s ranking in the world-but he never won another major title, and he never became a major celebrity. Chang spent the ’90s battling white rivals Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the final rounds of Grand Slams, and would rise to the No. 3 Stefan Edberg for the French Open title. In 1989, Chang became the youngest man to ever win a major tournament, when at only 17 years old, he shocked the tennis world by beating top-ranked Ivan Lendl and then–world No.

Before Yamaguchi’s emergence, one notable active Asian American athlete in the U.S. “There’s a way in which sports becomes a window to challenge the fact that Asian Americans are not the ‘perpetual foreigner’-we’re American, too,” said Constancio Arnaldo, assistant professor at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas and a co-editor of Asian American Sporting Cultures.

Kristi yamaguchi ice skating game