Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we celebrate the athletic contributions of Team USA’s Asian American Olympians and Paralympians. Furthermore, we recognize the continued push for equality off the field of play and condemn anti-Asian hate and racism in every form. Dive deeper into the stories of Team USA’s athletes on the USOPM Digital Museum.
Vicki Draves
Diving // London 1948 Born to an English mother and Filipino father, Vicki Draves used her mother’s maiden name, Taylor, to be admitted into San Francisco swimming clubs. At London 1948, she won gold in the springboard and platform, the first woman to sweep the diving events. With her springboard gold, she became the first Asian-American Olympic champion.
International Olympic Committee
Duke Kahanamoku
Swimming // Stockholm 1912, Antwerp 1920, Paris 1924 Duke Kahanamoku was born in Honolulu in what was then the Kingdom of Hawaii. He won five Olympic medals at three Games, including two consecutive golds in the 100m freestyle, the first swimmer to defend their 100m Olympic title. Kahanamoku is also known as the father of modern surfing, having introduced the sport to the mainland U.S. Surfing will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo. Duke Kahanamoku passed away in 1968 at the age of 78.
International Olympic Committee
Julie Chu
Ice Hockey // Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014
Julie Chu competed on the U.S. women’s ice hockey team from 2002 until 2014, winning four Olympic medals. She was the first AsianAmerican woman to compete for the U.S. at the Winter Games in a sport other than figure skating. At Sochi 2014, her final Games, Chu was elected as Team USA’s closing ceremony flag bearer.
International Olympic Committee
Bryan Clay
Track and field // Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 Bryan Clay was born in Texas to a Black father and Japanese mother. Raised in Hawaii, he quickly became one of the nation’s top decathletes. He won silver at Athens 2004 and gold at Beijing 2008, earning the title of World’s Greatest Athlete. He claimed his Olympic title with a victory margin of 240 points, the largest since 1972.
International Olympic Committee
Scout Bassett
Para track and field // Rio 2016 Rio 2016 Paralympian Scout Bassett was born in Nanjing, China as Zhu Fuzhi. She spent the first seven years of her life in an orphanage before being adopted by an American couple from Michigan in 1995. Still learning English, Bassett turned to sports to connect with her peers. After trying everything from basketball to tennis, she turned to track and field and triathlon at age 14. In Rio, she finished fifth in the 100m T42 and 10th in the long jump F42. She is the fastest American woman of her classification to run the 100m.
Joe Kusumoto
Sammy Lee
Diving // London 1948, Helsinki 1952 Born Samuel Rhee to Korean parents in Fresno, Sammy Lee saw the Los Angeles 1932 Games and decided he would become an Olympic champion. He and other people of color were only permitted to use the pool in Pasadena on Wednesdays (as the pool was scheduled to be cleaned the next day), so his coach dug a pit in his backyard for him to practice. At London 1948, Lee became the first Asian-American man to win Olympic gold. Four years later, he became the first diver to defend their gold medal in the 10-meter platform dive. Sammy Lee passed away in 2016 at the age of 96.
International Olympic Committee
Chloe Kim
Snowboarding // PyeongChang 2018 Born in 2000, Chloe Kim was too young to compete at Sochi 2014, having won silver at the 2015 Winter X Games. She competed at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games, winning two golds. She made her Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018, where she won halfpipe gold, to become the youngest Olympic snowboarding champion. A first-generation Korean-American, Kim has been recently outspoken about growing antiAsian hate.
International Olympic Committee
Apolo Anton Ohno
Speedskating // Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010 Apolo Anton Ohno was born in Seattle and was raised by his Japaneseborn father. After seeing the Lillehammer 1994 Games, Ohno became interested in short track speedskating. He made his Olympic debut at Salt Lake City 2002. After three more Games, Ohno retired as the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian with eight medals.
International Olympic Committee
Kristi Yamaguchi
Figure skating // Albertville 1992 At Albertville 1992, Kristi Yamaguchi won the short program and delivered a clean free skate to win ladies singles gold. Her victory ended a 16-year drought for Team USA and made her the first Asian-American woman to win Olympic Winter gold.
International Olympic Committee
Chuck Aoki
Wheelchair rugby // London 2012, Rio 2016 Chuck Aoki was born in and raised in Minneapolis. He played wheelchair basketball for 11 years and turned to wheelchair rugby after seeing the 2005 film “Murderball,” which featured the 2004 U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair RugbyTeam. At 17, Aoki became the second-youngest player to ever make a U.S. wheelchair rugby national team. A two-time Paralympic medalist, he made his Paralympic debut in 2012 and was co-captain of the 2016 team.
Joe Kusumoto
Amy Chow
Gymnastics // Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 During the 1996 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, Amy Chow fell on beam, scraping her face. She got up and completed her routine and was named to the team, who would be known as the Magnificent Seven. Born to Chinese immigrants in California, Chow would become the first Asian-American woman to win Olympic gymnastics gold. She would make a second Olympic team four years later to compete in Sydney. The three-time Olympic medalist has two skills named after her on the uneven bars – the Chow/ Khorkina and the Chow II.
International Olympic Committee
Tommy Kono
Weightlifting // Helsinki 1952, Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960 Tommy Kono was born Tamio Kono in 1930 to Japanese parents. In 1942, the family was interned in the Tule Lake concentration camp. The desert air helped Kono’s asthma and, ironically, it was during the three-year internment that he was introduced to weightlifting. Kono competed in three Olympic Games from 1952 until 1960, becoming the only weightlifter to medal in three different weight classes. He is also the only weightlifter to set world records in four separate weight divisions. Kono was rated the greatest weightlifter of all time in a poll conducted by the International Weightlifting Federation in 1982. Tommy Kono passed away in 2016 at the age of 86.
Crawford Family U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Archives
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