By Jason Cruz
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
We are less than two weeks away from the Summer Olympics in Paris, France. The United States will be sending a big contingent to compete and we identify several Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) athletes that will be competing.
Sunny Choi – Breaking

Sunny Choi (Credit: TeamUSA.com)
Breakdancing will be an Olympic sport for the first time ever in Paris. It will be the only new sport debuting this summer. One of the competitors for this new sport to the Games will be Sunny Choi. A Korean American from Queens, New York, Choi started breaking during her freshman year at UPenn when she joined a breakdancing club at the school. A former gymnast, Choi went to a weekly breaking class. She honed her skills and overcame her concerns.
After UPenn, she graduated with a degree from the Wharton School of Business.
She has competed worldwide in breaking with her most recent experience being in the World Championships in 2022 when she won a silver.
“To me, breaking was too underground, too street to be something that would be performed at an event that was as polished as the Olympics,” said Choi in an interview for the Team USA website.
While one might think Breaking is a sport, Choi trains with a strength and conditioning coach three times a week, mixing in practice four times per week, as well as yoga sessions and recovery time.
Breaking is judged in five categories: vocabulary, technique, execution, originality, and musicality, with each aspect representing 20% of the overall score. Competition is a one-on-one battle, and judging is comparison between the two competitors.
Beiwen Zhang – Badminton

Beiwen Zhang (Credit: TeamUSA.com)
34-year-old Beiwen Zhang will be representing the U.S. in the sport of badminton. The Chinese American returns to the Olympics after she debuted in Tokyo in 2020, where she was 9th overall in women’s singles.
Originally from China, Zhang started the sport at age 8 when her father enrolled her at a sports school. She moved to Singapore by herself at the age of 13, after being selected to compete for the Singapore national team. She’s represented the U.S. since 2013 after competing for China and Singapore.
She is currently the 11th ranked female in the Badminton Women’s Federation.
Mitchell Saron – Fencing

Mitchell Saron (Credit: TeamUSA.com)
Saron, a Filipino American fencer from Ridgewood, New Jersey will be representing the United States as a fencer in the Saber event. The 23-year-old won a Team Bronze Medal in the World Championships in 2023.
“This achievement is a dream come true, one I’ve had since I was 9 years old and first picked up a saber,” said Saron in an interview with the Harvard Crimson. In the interview, he revealed that he made significant lifestyle changes in order to prepare his body for Olympic qualification, including cutting out alcohol and having a diet consisting of grass-fed and wild-caught animals, as well as fermented vegetables. After graduating from Harvard in 2023, he took the year off to train to make the Paris Olympics.
“I love being able to live my childhood dream of being a real life jedi,” said Saron of the sport of fencing.
Leanne Wong and Sunisa Lee – Women’s Gymnastics

Leanne Wong (Credit: TeamUSA.com)
Leanne Wong and Sunisa Lee will be part of the women’s gymnastics team vying for a gold medal. Wong was an alternate for the 2020 Olympic team in Tokyo and will make her debut in Paris.
The 20-year-old from Overland Park, Kansas attends the University of Florida, where she is on the gymnastics team.
Wong was the 2024 NCAA uneven bars champion and all-around & vault silver medalist. She was on the U.S. team that won at the 2023 World Championships.
Wong began gymnastics when she was 5 years old. She has her own website where she sells bows that are usually worn during gymnastics. She is on the pre-med track at the University of Florida and will graduate in 2025.

Sunisa Lee (Credit: TeamUSA.com)
Lee was the breakout superstar of the Tokyo Olympics having won the gold medal in the All-Around Competition. The Saint Paul, Minnesota native went on to win the bronze medal in the uneven bar and the silver medal in the overall team competition.
The 21-year-old went on to Auburn University, where she was on the gymnastics team through her sophomore year. She ended her season early after being diagnosed with an unspecified rare kidney disease.
Lee made a comeback to gymnastics in August 2023 and worked her way back to earn a spot on the team at the Olympic trials in 2024.
Asher Hong – Men’s Gymnastics

Asher Hong (Credit: TeamUSA.com)
The 20-year-old native of Plano, Texas will be making his first Olympics appearance in Paris. Hong attends Stanford University where he is on the gymnastics team. Hong’s primary disciplines are the still rings, vault, and parallel bars. Stanford won the 2024 NCAA championship in gymnastics with Hong a part of the team.
Hong has two other brothers that are in gymnastics. He first got involved in gymnastics when he climbed door frames in his house at age 3.
These are just a handful of the AAPI athletes that will make the trip to Paris. Is there an athlete from Team USA that we did not highlight? Let us know and we will keep a tab of those making news in Paris.
The 2024 Olympic Games runs from July 26 through Aug. 11.
Jason can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.