How the other side lives

Team USA's Chu has close encounter with her ancestry

PROVO, Utah -- Try as she did to keep one ear to the ice, U.S. forward Julie Chu was unable to pick up opponents' verbal cues during her team's Thursday matchup against China. "The only time my teammates really needed me to translate was when we were in Beijing to play China [in a pre-Olympic matchup] earlier this year," says Chu, a Fairfield, Conn., native who, at 19, is the first Asian-American to play for a U.S. Olympic hockey team. "We were in a marketplace, and I heard 'Hey, Chuey, get over here!' They wanted me to help them barter for wooden spoons, but I don't think I did a great job of it."

Communicating with the smattering of Cantonese that she learned from her paternal grandmother, Lai Fong, who emigrated from Hong Kong in 1968, is one of the only endeavors that Chu goes about tentatively. One of the youngest and scrappiest players on what is arguably the most dominant team competing in these Olympics, Chu stepped down from her class president position at Choate Rosemary Hall last year in order to move Lake Placid, N.Y., to train and play year-round with the U.S. national team. With her father, Wah, and mother, Miriam, in attendance (76-year-old Lai Fong is also in Utah and will watch a few of her granddaughter's games), Chu notched a goal and an assist in Thurday's 12-1 win over China.

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Coming after the U.S. team's 10-0 shutout of Germany on Tuesday, it was the team's second blowout in two games. But consider this statistic: While over 40,000 girls play hockey in the U.S., a paltry 100 or so play on the handful of women's teams in China. The Chinese were considered a dangerous up-and-comer after they finished fourth in Nagano, but hard economic times have forced the government to cut back on its funding for women's ice hockey developmental programs. Competition is so rare and infrequent that the elite women often practice against China's men's national team.

Chu admires the Chinese women for overcoming so many obstacles to play their sport. "We sometimes nod or smile when we pass each other on the ice," says Chu, who will enroll at Harvard in the fall. "I think there's a mutual respect."

Members of Team China wouldn't mind a moment in Chu's shoes. "When we first met in competition, I just assumed she wasn't very good," says goalie Guo Hong, who endured 71 U.S. shots during the game. "But she started playing, and I realized that she is quite good. We're happy that she has a chance to be on a gold-medal team."

Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Kelley King is in Utah covering the Olympics for Sports Illustrated Olympic Daily and CNNSI.com. Check back regularly for more behind-the-scenes reports from Salt Lake City.

 

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