“Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery. Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice. The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love.”

–Morihei Ueshiba (Japanese martial artist)

Two articles on Olympic sports, both in the Wall Street Journal (January 11, 2022), and both on the same page. Both articles related to allegiance, or loyalty.

For me, one was a head-scratcher, the other uplifting. I’ll start with the head-scratcher.

Eileen Gu is an eighteen-year-old San Francisco native. Her dad is American, and her mom is a native of China who moved to the U.S. in her twenty’s. Eileen is a world class freestyle snow skier who won a World Cup event at age fifteen. She’s good…apparently, really good.

Full disclosure: I grew up thinking skiing was something you did on water and behind a boat, so I’m not one to judge Gu on her talent. From what I read, it’s immense, and she should be commended for it.

But, Gu has made the decision to compete for China in the upcoming Olympic Games. This from a girl who models Tiffany and Louis Vuitton merchandise, is sponsored by Victoria’s Secret and Beats by Dre, and has been accepted at Stanford University.

Fair to say, she has capitalized on capitalism (see how I did that?). Incidentally, she’s also sponsored by Bank of China and China Mobile.

She explains her decision as wanting to serve as a role model for Chinese girls. Taken alone, that’s admirable. She even stated that she’s American when in the U.S. and Chinese when in China. I’m not sure one can have it both ways.

She’s only eighteen and, though very bright (remember Stanford?), perhaps some adults in her life should point out a few things:

• Eileen, you’re American-born and American-trained, and you’ve had the blessing of growing up a free child in a free nation. That has to count for something.

• Many will impugn your humanistic aspirations as a guise for your and/or your agent’s deeper motive to tap into the Chinese money market for American athletes (think NBA).

• Television in China is state-owned and state-controlled. Your story will be spun in a way that makes it appear you’ve spurned the American system and opted for that of China.

• And, to that point, little girls in China will only see and hear what the Chinese Communist Party wants them to see and hear.

• Your former U.S. teammates are being advised to leave their phones at home, for fear the nefarious Chinese government will spy on them.

• China doesn’t accept dual citizenship. You’re either allegiant to them or you aren’t. Once a U.S. citizenship is renounced, it’s not that easy to get back–even for someone who’s really good on snow skis.

• There are plenty of Asian-American little girls and boys living in the U.S. You could serve as a role model for them, probably more effectively than you could for anyone living in China.

• Most importantly, Eileen, you’re casting your allegiance with a country that openly practices genocide. While you’re there, you could visit Xinjiang and just ask any Uyghur you meet on the street…except they’re all in internment camps.

Okay, now for the more uplifting story. Erin Jackson, the world’s best at the women’s 500-meter speed skating event, recently slipped and fell in the U.S. trials, finishing third. Only the top two skaters qualify for the Games.

Her longtime friend, Brittany Bowe, finished first, but decided she’d give her spot to Jackson. Admittedly, Bowe will be skating the 1000-meter and 1500-meter events at the Games, but to give up an additional spot in an Olympic event is almost unheard of.

Bowe was quoted in the Journal: “This is bigger than just me. This is the Olympic Games. This is about Team USA, and it’s about giving everybody an opportunity to showcase what they have.”

Now, that’s true allegiance–not only to one’s country, but to a fellow competitor. In my book, Bowe’s already an Olympic champion.

And, incidentally, Jackson is black and Bowe is white. While we overvalue sports in our country, we can’t overvalue the fact that sportsmanship transcends race. That’s never a bad thing.

If you plan to watch, enjoy the Games…and go Team USA!