On a more pleasant note, Nathan Chen was amazing, as was Kamila Valieva. Between the two, I have to say that I enjoy the elegance and artistry of women figure skating more.
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Itâs probably not as simple in China. Many ordinary Chinese are apparently very upset with people with dual citizenships, many of whom were perceived to make their money in China (and enjoy other âbenefitsâ) but secretly hold citizenship of another country.
SUpposedly Gu has been competing for CHina for years but the decision has to be all about money. There is only really one wealthy winter athlete (Shaun White). She is both a supermodel in China and a poster person for winter sports. I can only imagine how much money she is making. There is no way that would be the case if she was competing for the US where there are so many young female amazing winter athletes.
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IMO, not answering the question of citizenship status, âbecause many ordinary Chinese are upset with people with dual citizenships,â is a money grab. So, just answer the simple question.
Now, if sheâs not answering the question because the Chinese government wonât allow you to or wonât like it, then why are you competing for that country if you have options for another countryâs citizenship, the US in this case? 
Anyway, weâre getting off track, but to me, itâs a simple question to answer.
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The US would not take her citizenship, but China does not allow dual citizenship and they set the rules for who can compete for their country. Maybe they required her to be a citizen to compete
Japan requires children who have dual citizenship to âpick oneâ before they are 22, so osaka did that.
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I couldnât stay up to watch Nathan Chenâs short program so I just watched on YouTube.
Brilliant!!!
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Money is, of course, a motivating factor. I donât know that money isnât a factor for any Olympian in modern time. But I have no reason to doubt her claim that she will inspire more people, particular girls, in China than anywhere else, to get involved in her sports. The two motivating factors arenât mutually exclusive.
She also made the choice 3 years ago (I believe IOC rule requires athletes to make their commitments in terms of the countries they will represent 3 years ahead of the Games) when the relationship between the two countries wasnât as bad as now.
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I used YouTube to watch his performance and Kamila Valievaâs quads⊠both amazing.
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I am looking forward to seeing Kamila skate to Bolero again in the womenâs competition. I think you have to have a lot of confidence to use that music as it is associated with the artistically perfect program of Torvil & Dean, but younger people may not feel that way.
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I believe 2014 was the first year that the figure skating team event was held at the Olympics.
Did anyone see Donovan Carrillo from Mexico skate last night? He was pretty good and he trains in at an ice rink in a shopping mall! Heâs pretty inspiring. Wonderful to see an athlete who is really enjoying their Olympic experience.
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News reports said she did relinquish her citizenship. Her choice.
According to the WSJ the following was stated on the Red Bull website, one of her sponsors: she became a Chinese citizen in 2015. When they reached out to Red Bull, they didnât respond to the question and the information was deleted from the Red Bull website.
âChinaâs policy isnât to recognize dual citizenship. Recently one of Guâs main sponsors, Red Bull, included on its website a passage that read: âAt the age of 15, US-born Gu decided to give up her American passport and naturalize as a Chinese citizen in order to compete for China in Beijingâbecause Chinese law doesnât recognize dual nationality.â
After The Wall Street Journal emailed asking Red Bull representatives to confirm that Gu gave up her U.S. passport, the passage disappeared from Red Bullâs website.
In response to a follow-up email asking why the passage was removed, a Red Bull spokeswoman replied: âWe look forward to watching our friend Eileen Gu compete for China at the upcoming Olympics in Beijing.â The spokeswoman didnât address the citizenship question.
Through her New York-based agent, Gu declined to comment for this article. More than two weeks after this story was published, officials at Chinaâs National Immigration Administration, which handles citizenship issues, replied to a request for comment, saying that âthe provisions of the Nationality Law for those who apply are clear and uniform.ââ
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I saw him skate. He had great personality out there and Iâm so glad he got to have this experience.
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Which still needs to comply with ToS. So a non-exhaustive list of topics to avoid: Covid (unless directly connected with the Olympics), any nationâs foreign relation policy with China, any variation of the One-China policy. Several posts deleted.
Enjoy the games.
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Kamila was wonderful and Bolero was wonderful too for her performance. I really do love when the music is powerful, emotional and fits with the program. I loved Nathan Chen and thought his choice of music was beautiful, inspired. He is elegant, artistic, and his performances have been beautiful . So hope he gets his medal this time!
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Thatâs true. Look at the ice dance and pair teams. Itâs very common for one of the partners to be from another country than the one they compete for. Itâs possible there is some paperwork involved though. My daughter competed internationally on a team and a couple of the members lived in the US but had citizenship elsewhere. I remember one had to get permission from the other county to compete.
Unfortunately, we donât have cable so Iâm at the mercy of NBC programming. Way too much figure skating and xc skiing for my liking. Iâd like to see more alpine skiing, womenâs hockeyâshootâIâll even take curling for a change!
Team curling starts tomorrow (Weds). Mixed doubles finished today.
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Wow, what a shocker. I feel so sorry for Shiffrin.
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I donât care if the Americans win or not, but I hate when they are clearly off their game, whether itâs nerves or illness or just bad luck.
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