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Dialuna 14 Februari 2022

For Asian American women, Olympics reveal a harsh duality

(AP) — Across two pan- of racist abuse at home. thing to offer. Girls” of the Winter Games, U.S. citizenship to compete
demic Olympics set in joining icons like American for her ancestral homeland.
Asian countries, Asian The world’s most elite and “It’s like Asian American figure skaters Kristi Yamagu- Others are angry that she
American women front- international sporting event, women can’t win,” says Jeff chi and Michelle Kwan. “stole” the Olympic spot
ing the Games have en- which pits athletes and coun- Yang, an author and cultural When Kim and Gu earned from an actual China-born
countered a whiplashing tries against each other, un- critic. “Asian American fe- their gold medals in Beijing, athlete.
duality — prized on the derscores along the way the male athletes, like most Asian it was the perfect bow on
global stage for their med- crude reality that many Asian American women in many professional narratives that Even the winners struggle to
al-winning talent, buffet- women face: of only being other spaces, are seen as wor- have been covered inces- feel fully embraced in Amer-
ed by the escalating crisis seen when they have some- thy when they can deliver … santly leading up to the actual ica.
and then disposed of other- event. Their star power and
wise.” talent made them two of the Kim, who won the halfpipe at
de facto spokeswomen for the Beijing and Pyeongchang
The issue is playing out at the the Olympics. Olympics, has revealed she
Beijing Winter Games, the was tormented online daily.
third straight Olympics set Meanwhile, other Asian She says she was consumed
in Asia and the second held American women like figure by fear that her parents could
during the unrelenting glob- skaters Karen Chen and Alysa be killed whenever she heard
al coronavirus crisis — and Liu of the U.S. team and Zhu news about another brutal as-
playing out, too, during a rise Yi of the China team have sault on an Asian person.
in hate crimes against Asian also been promoted by their
Americans. national teams and scruti- There have been more than
nized — sometimes harshly 10,000 reported anti-Asian
Here, U.S. snowboarder — by Olympic fans. incidents — from taunts to
Chloe Kim and China’s free- outright assaults – between
style skier Eileen Gu are the Commentators have mocked March 2020 and September
latest additions to the list of Yi for falling in the team 2021, according to Stop AAPI
American women of Asian event, as if she deserved the Hate, a national coalition that
descent who have been “It mistake after giving up her gathers data on racially mo-

Scant progress the final blow to on-time MLB spring training

The final blow has been million).
dealt to an on-time start to
spring training, with Ma- The union fears teams would
jor League Baseball mak- refuse to go over the thresh-
ing a new offer Saturday old, prizing draft picks.
that the players’ associa-
tion received as only scant On free agency, clubs main-
progress in the drawn-out tained their proposal to elim-
labor talks. inate the loss of an amateur
draft pick for a team signing
On the 73rd day of a lockout a free agent — an area of dis-
that has become the second- pute that led to a 50-day in-
longest work stoppage in season strike in 1981.
baseball history, clubs gave
the union 16 documents to- But the clubs did keep in
taling 130 pages, encompass- the plan that a team losing a
ing all key areas in a mix of free agent will receive draft-
new offers and previous pro- pick compensation based on
posals. revenue-sharing status and
whether a club had been over
The one-hour session was contract. Training camps will Three officials from each side 20% to 50% for a team ex- the threshold.
just the fifth on core econom- remain shuttered Wednesday, attended the session at MLB’s ceeding the initial threshold,
ics since the lockout began, when pitchers and catchers office, with players and own- from 32% to 75% for the For a free agent who had
and the first on a weekend. had been scheduled to start ers joining by Zoom. second threshold and from spent the entire season with
The sides remained far apart workouts for a 2022 season 62.5% to 100% for the third one team, there would would
on luxury tax thresholds and that remains in doubt. MLB maintained its proposal threshold. be four tiers based on:
rate, with major differences on luxury-tax thresholds for $25 million in guaranteed
on revenue-sharing and how MLB does not intend to pub- 2022 and 2023, an increase Teams still are asking for salary or $18 million average
to address players’ allegations licly acknowledge any delay from $210 million to $214 non-monetary penalties, annual value (AAV), $55 mil-
of service time manipulation. until it becomes apparent that million in both years. Teams which the union thinks is too lion or $23 million AAV, $100
MLB said it remains opposed preseason exhibition games increased their proposal by harsh. million or $30 million AAV,
to any increase in salary ar- cannot begin as scheduled on $2 million annually in each of $150 million or $40 million
bitration eligibility or reduc- Feb. 26. the final three years of a deal: While MLB dropped its AAV.
tion in revenue sharing. $216 million in 2024, $218 plan to have a team lose a
Opening day is set for March million in 2025 and $222 third-round pick for exceed- The union’s initial thoughts
The players’ union said it 31, and players don’t start ac- million in 2026. ing the first threshold, it has have been that this proposed
would analyze the offer be- cruing salary until the regular proposed a team would lose level of indirect compensa-
fore determining when and season. Given the need for Players have proposed a $245 a second-round pick for go- tion could be a disincentive
how to respond. 21-28 days of training and ad- million luxury-tax threshold ing over the second threshold for a team to retain play-
ditional time to report and go for this year, which would ($234 million this year and ers who are eligible for free
Baseball’s ninth work stop- through COVID-19 proto- rise to $273 million in 2026. next) rather than dropping 10 agency eligible players, and
page — and first since 1995 cols, an agreement by the end slots and would forfeit a first- have asked that luxury-tax
— began Dec. 2 following the of February or early March is MLB also has proposed in- round selection for exceed- status be removed from the
expiration of a five-year labor needed for an on-time start. creasing the tax rate from ing the third threshold ($254 formula.