The glory of Chinese hockey at the Beijing Winter Olympics will be defended by a lousy mercenary, writes Mikko Knuuttila.
When the Chinese men’s hockey team prepares for the opening game of the Beijing Winter Olympics against the United States, captain Ye Jinguang pulled the men together in front of their own goal and shouted their last shout of encouragement to them.
It read like this:
“Let’s fucking shock the world! Win our group! One, two, three, huh! (Shocking the world! Let’s win our block! One, two, three, huh!) Ye roared.
He shouted in English. For two reasons.
First, Ye is from Vancouver, Canada, where he was born and raised by name Brandon Yip. The player who marinated in the NHL only became Ye at the Beijing Games, where all Chinese players were given a Chinese name.
Second, the common language of the Chinese national hockey team is English. Of the 25 players playing in Beijing, only six are originally Chinese. Eleven players are from Canada, six from the United States and one from Russia.
Some players with a foreign background have family roots in China, such as Yip, a descendant of Chinese and Irish immigrants. However, some of the team are pure mercenaries. Keeper Jierumi Shimsi is an American Jeremy Smith and defender Jieke Kailiaosi is an American Jake Chelios.
In his career, e.g. Brandon Yip, 36, who played in the jockeys, is the Chinese captain at the Olympics.
Alien confirmations has been ramped up for the Games because of a shameful fact: hockey dwarf China’s own player production is not nearly close to the Olympic level.
To avoid humiliation, both the International Hockey Federation IIHF and the Chinese state have been prepared to interpret their own rules creatively.
IIHF: n rules on the basis of which a player is eligible for the Olympics if he is 1) a national of the country he represents and 2) has played for at least two hockey seasons in the country he represents.
The entire Chinese team consists of KHL club Kunlun Red Star players. Kunlun has been playing his home game in Russia since the spring of 2020 due to a coronavirus pandemic.
China does not fellow dual citizenship for their citizens. However, goalkeeper Smith said recently ESPN he was promised in an interview when the Kunlun agreement was being ratified for the period 2018-2019 that he would by no means have to give up his U.S. passport.
IIHF: n former chairman René Fasel once justified China’s admission to the Olympic hoop with a desire to increase the sport’s popularity in a country of 1.4 billion people.
How was the Olympic debut? China shocked the world by losing 0-8. Let’s see how hot the puck fever gets after China’s lousy mercenary faces its other front-line opponents Canada and Germany.
Read more: US beats Chinese hockey 8-0 – Chinese fan: “Surprisingly well played”
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