Ethnic Avenue – The Street That Crosses All the Others

Posts Tagged ‘Speed Skating’

If you’re like me, you tune into the Winter Olympics to watch sports you wouldn’t otherwise know existed and then only think about every four years, when they’re suddenly all over your beautiful hi-def TV. “Curling” and “Skeleton” mean entirely different things in Los Angeles.

One such sport for me is Speed Skating. I never watch it, but when it’s on, I’m totally glued to it. And, all of a sudden—if you’re lucky enough to be watching it with me–I’m an “expert” that’s been “following it for years.”

This weekend, I was watching the Short Track Speed Skating 1500m finals, when I made an observation that I hadn’t really made before. A majority of the skaters were Asian. Alone, three of the six finalists were Korean. Even the Americans were half Asian. With Apolo Ohno (half-Japanese) and J.R. Celski (half-Filipino) representing the U.S. in the race, five out of six people on the track were at least part-Asian. That’s 83 percent–and seemed noteworthy.

Another Asian Sweep.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Asians seem to thrive on ice. Kristi Yamaguchi. Michelle Kwan. The list goes on.

So what gives? For obvious reasons, none of the broadcasters are going to point it out or, worse, try to explain it–even though it was begging for an explanation, and that explanation is quite simple.

At its core, ice skating is (very) skilled foot dragging. You’re basically shuffling your feet, but quickly and elaborately–and on skates. Sure, you lift your feet here and there, but not that much. And, for reasons we’ve explored before, Asians are absolute naturals at this.

No one gets more practice, in their daily life, at dragging their feet than Asian people. It’s not surprising they’ve perfected it to world-champion levels.