US athlete Yul Moldauer heads to Tokyo Olympics as Asian-Americans celebrate
- The gymnast, born in Seoul and adopted by American parents, is looking to spin his sparkling domestic form into Olympic gold
- Asian-Americans from across the US say he has proved an inspiration, especially given the rise in anti-Asian sentiment during the pandemic
Our Tokyo Trail series looks at key issues and athletes in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics, which are scheduled for late July. This is the first in a two-part feature on the Asian-American gymnasts who made headlines in the past week.
After leading the University of Oklahoma to three straight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships, Moldauer graduated last year. He was just the second first-year in the NCAA – the highest division of sports in American universities – to win the national title in the all-around field.
In 2016, Moldauer was left off the national squad for the Rio Olympics due to his “lack of experience”. He bounced back from his disappointment a year later when he won the all-around national title at the US National Championships.
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Samuel Choe, a 26-year-old digital product specialist, was in his home city of St. Louis last week to see Moldauer compete in the Olympic trials. Choe has been following his fellow Korean-American as it’s “unusual to see Asian-Americans in American sports”.
“Yul is breaking all the stereotypes for Koreans and other Asian-Americans,” he said. “It shows that becoming a doctor or lawyer is not the only way for Asians to become successful.”
Janet Cho, from La Canada, California, is happy her five-year-old son has a role model who can represent Asian men in a “strong and confident” way.
“The representation of Asian men in the media has been sorely lacking and largely negative, with stereotypes about them being weak, awkward, nerdy or emasculated in some kind of way,” said the 41-year-old communications director who works in the health service sector. “This takes a toll over time and really cuts down their confidence and general sense of belonging in this country.”
Last year, someone at a McDonald’s told Cho’s son to stop speaking Korean. In turn, Cho’s son told her to stop speaking Korean at home.
“I want to be deliberate about instilling pride in my children regarding their heritage and cultural background to ensure that it’s not something to hide but rather celebrate with confidence,” she said. “Our community is abuzz about seeing a strong and confident Korean-American make it to the highest levels in a popular and intensely competitive sport. It’s a moment of immense pride.”
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Emily Chen saw Moldauer win the American Cup in 2017 when the event was held close to her home in Brooklyn, New York. After looking up the gymnast online, she was pleasantly surprised to find out that he was a fellow adoptee from South Korea.
“Just as young black girls started to enrol in gymnastics after Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles became stars in the sport, I hope that there will be many young Asian men who will start gymnastics after seeing Yul,” she said. “The less that Asians are sidelined, the better it will be for the whole Asian-American community.”
Moldauer’s rise in the gymnastics world has been a light for the Asian-American community, which has increasingly been the target of hate crimes and negative sentiment since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Early on last year, I would wear sunglasses to cover my eyes when taking a walk outside,” Chen said.
Cho from California said Moldauer’s achievements had brought her “much-needed light”.
“I’m often confronted with stories on social media about Asians getting attacked, robbed or targeted, so it’s a stark contrast to what we’ve been seeing on a regular basis,” she said. “When I showed my kids that Yul made the Olympic team, they were excited – just like [in 2018] when Chloe Kim won a gold medal in snowboarding for Team USA.”
