How China was able to assemble a men's hockey team of mostly foreign nationals despite strict rules preventing athletes from competing for countries they are not citizens of remains "one of the most closely guarded secrets" of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Team China looks more like an international minor-league squad than a national team made up of patriotic Chinese citizens. According to the Journal, the 25-member roster boasts 17 players who were either born or grew up in North America and one from Russia.
"It’s a team made up mostly of Americans and Canadians," the outlet reported. "They play professional hockey in Russia. They are coached by an Italian. They conduct their practices in English. Yet this week, they are representing China in the men’s hockey tournament at the Beijing Olympics."
There's certainly nothing wrong with citizens from various ethnicities and heritages competing together under their home country's flag. As the global melting pot, the U.S. has done as much for decades. But this situation is starkly different.
The Journal said one of the most recognizable players on the team, Jake Chelios — the son of NHL legend Chris Chelios — confirmed that he and several other Team China teammates still have their American passports. That seems to stand in contradiction to an International Olympic Committee rule that requires competitors to be citizens of the country they compete for at the Games.
When asked by the outlet if he had renounced his U.S. citizenship and been naturalized as a Chinese citizen, Chelios, who plays under the name "Jieke Kailaoisi" in China, reportedly remarked, "I don't think we're supposed to comment on that."
The 28-year-old's father added that his son is an "American and very proud of it." But he told the Journal that when the opportunity presented itself to compete in the Olympics for China, he took it: "He wanted to play bad and I supported 100%."
The situation appears to be the result of a China taking advantage of confusion over an arcane rule in the International Ice Hockey Federation's Handbook that states a player who changes his citizenship must "prove that he has participated for at least two consecutive hockey seasons ... in the national competitions of his new country after his 10th birthday," the Journal claimed.
On top of that, there was likely some help by way of overlooking from Olympic organizers.
Chelios and many of his Western teammates — including Michigan-born goalie Jeremy Smith who is going by "Shimisi Jieruimi" in the Olympics — have played for the Beijing-based Kunlun Red Star, the sole Chinese outpost in Russia's KHL, since 2019.
Had the Westerners completed their contracts with the Red Star, they would have, under an extremely loose interpretation of the rule, qualified for China's Olympic team. However, the Journal noted, the coronavirus pandemic further complicated the situation. When China implemented strict health guidelines at the start of the pandemic, the Red Star relocated to a small town near Moscow, where the players trained and played home games until the 2022 Olympics began.
That technicality, which should've counted against the players' qualification, was apparently overlooked by the governing authorities.
According to the Journal, neither the Chinese Olympic Committee, the IIHF, nor the IOC have returned requests for comment.
Questions regarding the citizenship of U.S.-born athletes competing for China in the Games have been plenty this year. Like Chelios, popular skier Eileen Gu, a California native competing for Team China, has refused to answer whether she has renounced her U.S. citizenship.
Fascinating satellite images from high above Beijing, China, and its surrounding areas are opening viewers' eyes to the not-so-wintery reality of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The pair of photographs, released by NASA earlier this month, shows the staggering amount of fake snow used to make it possible for the Chinese capital to play host to the Games.
In one image of the Xiaohaituo Mountain in Yanqing, one can clearly see the white splash of artificial snow dumped on the venue terrain, separating it from the miles upon miles of surrounding brown mountains.
Yanqing, a suburb of Beijing located about 45 miles northwest of the city, was selected to play host to alpine skiing and sliding events such as bobsled, skeleton, and the luge due to its steep mountain faces. But while the terrain itself is suitable, the lack of snow has made hosting the events a sizable challenge.
According to Time, 100% of the snow used in the 2022 Winter Games will be artificial, and to transform the terrain, Olympic organizers had to make use of nearly 300 fan-powered snow guns and 83 lance-style snow guns from Italian firm TechnoAlpin.
"The output from those machines was easy to spot in satellite imagery of the area," remarked NASA. "On January 29, 2021, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured an image of the downhill trails covered with artificial snow. The water used to make the snow gets piped in from the nearby Foyukou and Baihepu reservoirs."
In another image, this one of downtown Beijing, a mostly arid cityscape can be seen but with certain plots of land covered in more fake snow.
While the city center was set to host mostly indoor events such as figure skating and hockey, Beijing did construct a "big air" stadium for aerial skiing and snowboarding on top of a former steel mill in nearby Shougang.
Other images shared of the "big air" stadium posted on social media have raised eyebrows and sparked criticism globally as commenters compared the Shougang backdrop to a "dystopian" industrial center and a "hellscape."
Honestly, what are we even doing here.pic.twitter.com/vtj7FarSVv— Michael Antonelli (@Michael Antonelli) 1644281640
In its report on the NASA images, Yahoo News noted that China claims the energy used to power its arsenal of snow machines will primarily be renewable and thus won't leave too much of a carbon footprint.
However, some are concerned about the massive amount of water needed to produce the snow, especially in a region where water scarcity has long been a concern.
China reportedly estimated that it will need something like 50 million gallons of water to produce artificial snow throughout the Games. Artificial snow is produced using air and water.
But Madeleine Orr, a sports ecologist at the University of Loughborough, warned, "If the region has enough warm days and snow melts, water use could really climb."
She went on to describe the Winter Games in Beijing as "a bit of a test case," saying, "Researchers haven’t examined the consequences of 100% fake snow melting rapidly."
While artificial snow has been used in large capacities to host the Games before, some athletes have also raised concerns about how an 100% artificial snow terrain could affect their performance.
A 15-year-old Russian superstar already considered by many to be the best figure skater ever, even though she has yet to win a world championship or Olympic title, has reportedly tested positive for a banned substance.
Kamila Valieva returned a positive test for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication, prior to the start of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, according to the Russian newspaper RBC, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
Trimetazidine, which reportedly helps prevent heart attacks and treats vertigo, is included on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances because it can help endurance and increase blood flow efficiency.
The troubling sample was reportedly obtained before Valieva won the European championship in Estonia last month. During that competition, the teenager delivered an elite performance that solidified her status as the leader of Russia's "quad squad" of women's figure skaters.
At the Beijing Games, Valieva was expected to win her nation a third straight Olympic gold medal in women's figure skating, and she had already contributed to a gold medal run for the Russian Olympic Committee in the Olympic figure skating team event.
The medal ceremony for the team event, however, was postponed by the International Olympic Committee this week as reports surfaced about her potential violation.
Valieva's positive test is the latest in a string of violations committed by Russian athletes. The country's widespread performance-enhancing drug operation at the 2014 Winter Olympics resulted in the country being banned from the past three Olympic Games.
But a contingent of Russian athletes have been allowed to compete under the Russian Olympic Committee banner, though technically unaffiliated with their home country.
Despite her positive test, Valieva was seen going through her normal practice routines Thursday in preparation for forthcoming events. Such events include the individual competition, starting Tuesday, for which she is the overwhelming favorite.
Russian figure skating authorities, too, seemed defiant in the face of allegations.
"She is not suspended," Russian figure skating federation spokeswoman Olga Ermolina said, offering no further details, according to the AP.
The International Skating Union, the sport’s governing body, also refused to go into detail, stating only that it "cannot disclose any information about any possible anti-doping rule violation."
Something that could work in Russia and Valieva's favor is her young age. At 15, she is considered a "Protected Person" by the World Anti-Doping Agency, a status that could prevent her from being punished for her failed drug test.
Only a young teenager, Valieva is considered by many to be the best to ever compete in the sport.
She already holds nine world records, including a combined world record score of 272.71 from a grand prix event last November, Yahoo News reported. The outlet noted that no other woman has ever come close to that score. In second is Russia's Alena Kostornaia with 247.59.
Valieva has won every event she has ever competed in and is capable of doing three separate quad jumps in her routines, something other skaters only dream of, as most cannot land even one.
Yet time will tell if her prowess has been due, in part, to performance enhancers and whether her legacy will be tainted by scandal.
15-year-old Kamila Valieva sets TWO world records in stunning free skate | NBC Sports www.youtube.com
Russia and China may have common goals, but they also have competing interests. Sino-Russia cooperation is growing, but also fragile.
It's long past time for the West to put up or shut up on defending human rights.
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