Yeah, I’ve watched a few interviews with her and she hasn’t really dwelt on her father’s history when people have brought it up, nor has she brought it up unprompted. I’m sure she’s got some brainworms, but she certainly doesn’t strike me as an anti-China crusader.

Also, since literally no one is talking about her actual figure skating: please, check out her Olympic free skate^[1]! Has to be the most joyful skating program I’ve ever seen; she seems to be someone who has genuinely found happiness in skating after rejecting the grueling training of her childhood, coming back to the sport on her own terms, and focusing on enjoying herself and expressing herself rather than on results (which I know sounds like corny athlete PR speak, but if you listen to her and watch her you’ll see that it’s from the heart). I think she’s going to be an inspiration for people from within and without the figure skating world.

She does seem cool, and she’s good at what she does.

And ya, someone told me it sounds like he might have been hard on her as a coach, because she came back to skating with him not as a coach anymore.

But she looks like she’s doing it for fun now and not because her traditional Asian parent is forcing her to be amazing at it (which reminds me of when “Tiger Mom” parenting styles were all the rage in the discourse circa 2011), and it’s great to see someone enjoy what they do while also being really good at it imo.