In a true representation of America's beef-stew society, this year's diverse U.S. speed skating team broke away from tradition in the ethnically vanilla world of winter Olympic sports. The speed skaters, however, represent just one small part of an Olympic team that remains largely composed of a white upper- and middle-class majority.
America's lack of diversity in winter sports may not be indicative of this country's population, but it does reflect the ethnic tendencies traditionally seen in the winter Olympics. The 2006 winter games in Torino attracted just 2,500 competitors from 75 primarily northern hemisphere countries.
In contrast, the Athens summer Olympics in 2004 brought in over 10,000 athletes from 200 nations to compete on the world stage. With just 25 percent of the participation seen in Athens and a distinctly North Atlantic flavor, Torino captured what has been the norm in winter sports since the winter Olympics began in 1924: an ethnically homogenous gathering of relatively wealthy nations.
Increased globalization and cross-cultural blending have outpaced the traditional winter Olympic model, and the gap is hurting the games' global marketability. The U.S. Olympic Committee seems to be catching on to the unavoidable fact that without increased diversity, the winter games will lose their Olympic grandeur. Increased minority participation has become one of the USOC's principle goals.
However, efforts to integrate traditionally "white" sports such as ice hockey and alpine skiing have seen few favorable results. With just a handful of minority players in the NHL and an even smaller contingent involved in organized skiing, two of the premier winter Olympic sports remain largely homogenous.
This likely stems from geographic and economic constraints. Mountains, snow and ice aren't particularly prevalent in the southern half of the U.S. and the start-up costs of both hockey and skiing rival the price of a Tufts education (or at least a few classes). Ski equipment alone can run over $1000, in addition to the extra costs of lift tickets, lodging and lessons. While Caucasian households make an average of $46,971 per year, African American and Hispanic residents take in an average of just $30,355 and $34,299, respectively, leaving little room for the exorbitant costs of skiing and hockey.
Despite the national averages, many minority citizens could in fact afford these sports, but choose not to participate. Whether it's the white stereotype attached to hockey and skiing, a lack of exposure, or a combination of these and other factors, diversity is still markedly absent on the ice and slopes.
The USOC's attempts to make winter sports more appealing to minority athletes and audiences have not been totally fruitless. For all you Cool Runnings fans, the success of black bobsledder Vonetta Flowers comes as no surprise. Flowers became the first African American (and first black athlete of any nationality) to win a winter Olympic gold medal when she and teammate Jill Bakken won the two-man bobsled event at the Salt Lake City games.
Speed and leg drive are key components to bobsledding success as a fast start often determines supremacy. In search of these particular talents, the U.S. bobsled team actively recruits athletes from track and field and football camps. Flowers was a seven-time All-American for the University of Alabama-Birmingham's track team before taking to the ice.
While the strides towards better minority representation in bobsledding are notable, it's this year's speed skating team that broke from the traditional winter Olympic uniformity. Gone are the days of Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden. Of the 18 skaters to compete in Torino, eight were of minority descent. With 44 percent of its team comprised of minorities, the U.S. speed skaters have quadruple the proportion of non-whites than the US team as a whole.
The speed skating team has two Mexican Americans in Derek Parra and Maria Garcia. Native Americans are represented by Ryan Leveille and Allison Baver. Jennifer Rodriguez is of Cuban descent, and Apolo Anton Ohno and Hyo-Jung Kim's have ties to Japan and South Korea, respectively. Shani Davis, the 23 year-old African American skater from the south side of Chicago, garnered the most attention of all the minority speed skaters with his gold medal performance in the 1000m and second-place finish in the 1500m.
But what has made speed skating so popular across the ethnic board? The answer - at least for Parra, Rodriguez and Baver - is rollerblading. Remember those inline skates you got for your birthday when you were eight? These athletes do too. And they wanted more than just street hockey glory. By using a trend to their advantage, they effectively traded the road for the rink in pursuit of the Olympic dream. Speed skating appealed to the kids growing up in cities like LA and Chicago because it connected to an inexpensive and easily accessible related sport.
Should the USOC try to popularize skiing by starting a fad of attaching wheels to skis? I wouldn't try carving on concrete, but you never know what will catch on with American kids. (If pogs and virtual Tamagotchi pets can be the rage - as they were for us when we were kids...or maybe that was just me - who's to say that Concrete Carvers won't become the next Razor Scooter?)
The chances of a speedy transition from homogeneity to diversity in winter Olympic sports are about as low as the mercury in the backyard thermometer this time of year. However, as the speed skating team has illustrated, this goal is far from impossible. The US winter Olympic team should, like its summer counterpart, be a true representation of the diversity America has come to embrace. Maybe the USOC will find a brilliant way to subsidize the costs of the more expensive sports, or increase recruitment from other athletic arenas. Or maybe all it will take is a fad like rollerblading to catalyze the change. Concrete carving, anyone?
