New research from the University of Michigan suggests that the way American news outlets report on Asian American athletes depends heavily on their perceived allegiance to the United States.
By examining the media portrayal of snowboarder Chloe Kim and freestyle skier Eileen Gu, researchers found that acceptance into American society is often “conditional.” This means that for these athletes, being seen as truly American is a status that can be granted or taken away based on their career choices.
A tale of two athletes
The study, published in the journal Communication & Sport, looked at over 200 articles from the last two Winter Olympics. The researchers compared the treatment of Chloe Kim, who won gold for the US in 2018, with Eileen Gu, who decided to represent China in 2022.
Read more: Winter Olympians Eileen Gu And Chloe Kim Speak Out After Trump Calls Hunter Hess “A Real Loser”
Kim, the daughter of South Korean immigrants, was widely praised as a “typical American teenager” after she turned down an invitation to compete for South Korea. In contrast, Gu was often described as an “ungrateful traitor” in various reports because she chose to compete for her mother’s home country.
“While the media framed Kim as the embodiment of the American dream for representing the US, it cast Gu as a nationalistic threat for competing for China,” said Doo Jae Park, the study’s lead author and a lecturer at the U-M School of Kinesiology.
The insider and the outsider
The researchers argue that these stories create a binary where athletes are either “insiders” or “outsiders.” Because Kim chose the US, she was welcomed. Because Gu chose China, she was accused of picking profit over patriotism.
The study found that news outlets often repeated specific phrases like “pick a side,” which helped cement these narrow views of the athletes’ identities. Despite their different paths, both women were also tied to the “model minority” myth. Articles frequently highlighted their high SAT scores and Ivy League connections—Princeton for Kim and Stanford for Gu—rather than just focusing on their sports achievements.
Belonging remains fragile
Even for those labeled as insiders, like Kim, acceptance is not permanent. The study points out that despite her Olympic success, Kim faced significant racism and bullying during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more: Why Eileen Gu Is Skiing for China Again at the 2026 Winter Olympics
“Despite the fact that Chloe Kim is an American citizen, she had to worry about hate crimes because of her appearance and her Asian identity,” Park said. He noted that this shows a repeating pattern of racialization in American history.
The University of Michigan team believes that sports media does more than just report scores; it helps decide who is “allowed” to be considered American. They argue that the current way we talk about race in sports often ignores the specific experiences of the Asian diaspora.
The report concludes that until the idea of the “perpetual foreigner” is gone, the status of Asian American athletes will remain uncertain. Park suggested that the industry needs to redesign how it views race to be more inclusive.
“At the end of the day, we can make sports studies diverse, inclusive and accessible to all people,” Park said.
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