SPORTS
January 3, 2022
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
Adopted U.S. moguls skier eyes return to China as Olympian
By Pat Graham
AP Sports Writer
ENVER — The jade necklace was
a present. These days, it serves as
a reminder, and maybe even a
symbol of more good things to come.
Amy and Jonathan Owens gave that
necklace to their adopted daughter, Kai,
years ago. It was one of the gifts they gave
every year to Kai, who they adopted when
she was around 16 months old. Before
that, Kai had been nurtured in an
orphanage after being left by her birth
parents at a town square in China.
Now 17, the U.S. moguls skier is in the
mix to return to China in February,
possibly to be discovered again, but this
time, in a much different way.
As Kai gears up for the Olympics in the
country she was born, it would be hard to
blame her for thinking the jade necklace
might look fabulous paired next to another
color — maybe bronze, or silver, or gold.
“Some serious stars aligned for me to be
here today,” said Owens, who’s in the
running to make the U.S. freestyle team
with four qualifying events remaining.
“It’s tough as a kid, thinking about being
abandoned and left. But I found a great
home, a great passion for something that I
love, and I have a great family. I’m
certainly grateful and lucky.”
The baby, then known as “Shiqi,” was
adopted from an orphanage in Anhui
province, a day’s drive from Beijing, and
taken to the mountains of Colorado, which
is where her passion for skiing sprouted.
She is, in many ways, a typical American
teen, complete with a Nike Air Jordan shoe
collection and a French bulldog named
Mochi. She also embraces her roots, cele-
brating Chinese traditions and wearing
the jade necklace for health and good luck.
Her name, Kai, translates into
“victorious,” and no matter what happens
over the next few weeks, she feels as
though she’s won.
“When they’re handed to you, it’s a blank
slate,” said Amy, whose family, which
includes 13-year-old son Bode (also
adopted from China), lives in Vail. “You
have no idea what’s going on, what their
proclivities will be. We just hoped that she
D
was going to be a ski enthusiast because
we are.”
Reports from the nannies at the
orphanage described Kai as tough and
obstinate, and as the baby who needed to
be hugged first each morning.
Her mom laughs at that now. It makes
sense.
To commit to moguls skiing is to commit
to a lifetime of bone-jarring bumps, as the
skiers attempt to time out two perfect
jumps in between a series of tightly spaced
moguls that must be perfectly traversed at
speeds of up to 20 mph.
But when Kai went all in, there was no
stopping her.
At 14, she became the youngest Ameri-
can to win a NorAm moguls competition.
She was named the women’s 2020-2021
moguls rookie of the year as part of the
freestyle & freeski World Cup awards.
Though it is still very early, it at least gives
her a chance to join the likes of Jonny
Moseley, Jeremy Bloom, and Hannah
Kearney on the short list of American
moguls greats.
Her most relevant connection, though,
might be with another American icon —
Toby Dawson.
Dawson, the 2006 Turin Games moguls
bronze medallist, received pre-Olympic
notoriety for his backstory: Living in a
South Korean orphanage, he was adopted
around age 3 by two ski instructors and
brought to Colorado where he discovered
freestyle skiing. His story begat dozens of
would-be parents who came forward
claiming Dawson was their child. He had
to sort through all that, then used genetic
testing to find who his real parents were.
Dawson’s brush with his past led to a
reconnection with his native country, too.
At the 2018 PyeongChang Games, he was
a coach for the Korean freestyle team.
Now, he’s leading the Chinese moguls
squad.
His advice to Owens regarding her birth
parents is simple: “Definitely, the low
expectations is key,” Dawson explained.
“They’re going to have to earn her trust
back because there was some reason that
she was put up for adoption. She got placed
into an amazing home, like I did, and had
great opportunities.”
Kai knows nothing about the “Why?” —
why she was left? Someday, she would like
to know the reason and the circumstances
surrounding her abandonment.
“I think it would be definitely emotional
— emotional and tough for me to kind of
face them. But I would,” Kai said. “I would
definitely tell them, ‘Yeah, I’m all right.’”
For decades from the 1980s, China
limited most couples to one child — which
the Owens family says is as good a guess as
any as to why Kai was left in the town
FREESTYLE SKIER. Kai Owens, left, of
the United States competes during the World Cup
women’s freestyle moguls skiing competition in Deer
Valley, Utah, in this February 5, 2021 file photo. As
an infant, she was abandoned at a town square in a
province of China. Taken to an orphanage, she was
adopted by a couple from Colorado at 16 months old.
Now 17, U.S. freestyle skier Kai Owens is on the verge
of earning a spot in moguls for the Winter Games in
Beijing. It’s a return to China she’s long thought about.
(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
square.
They adopted her on October 10, 2005.
Her parents call it “Gotcha Day.” In the
leadup, Amy gathered 18 presents from
China to give to her new daughter every
October 10.
Five years ago on “Gotcha Day,” Kai
received the jade necklace. These days, she
rarely takes it off.
It’s a necklace that has been lost and
found again. It’s been a source of pride and
confusion for Kai over the years — a
memento that’s come to represent her
adoption journey.
“Right now, she’s in an accepting place,”
said Amy as she and her husband were
matched with Kai through Chinese
Children Adoption International. “In her
younger life, it was like, ‘Nope, I want
nothing to do with that. I don’t want to
learn Mandarin. I don’t want anything
jade. I don’t want anything — keep it all
away from me.’
“Because I think she thought that was
sort of a distraction. She’s super
hyper-focused on her sport. So she just
wanted to put it aside. But she’s ready to
just accept it and recognize that, ‘I’m
travelling away from my family, and I
might need some of this support from this
jade necklace.’”
The family had plans to travel to China
last summer for a visit. It would’ve been a
way to reduce some of the anxiety over her
possible return for the Olympics. But the
restrictions due to the pandemic nixed
that idea. So she may be heading to China
without her family because of COVID-19,
but hardly feeling alone.
“My parents have done an incredible job
of making sure that we know we’re well
loved,” Kai said. “I think it will just be
really cool to go back there.”
Beijing Olympic athletes and
their garbage face restrictions
BEIJING (AP) — Beijing Winter
Olympics organizers say measures to
prevent cross-infections between athletes
and the outside world are being extended
to holding their garbage inside the bubble
dividing the two.
Officials said in December that a team of
special workers will be deployed to collect
and transfer garbage inside the bubble to
prevent the risk of coronavirus leaking out
into the outside world. The Beijing Games
begin February 4.
Ma Boyang, who is in charge of Olympic
village planning and operations, said the
waste will be held at temporary storage
sites, to be transferred later for central
processing.
China has stressed the possibility of the
virus being transmitted on inanimate
objects, particularly frozen food.
Most experts have ruled out the
possibility of infection through such
channels, saying the packaging carries
only minute traces of virus, most likely
deposited there by workers.
With the spread of the omicron variant,
concerns have again turned to preventing
infections among athletes that could lead
to quarantines for as long as five weeks.
Yan Jiarong, a spokesperson for the
organizing committee, said health
authorities were continuing to monitor the
situation, but believe the “relevant
preventive measures in the guidebook for
pandemic prevention have undergone
rigorous scientific evaluation and are
effective in ensuring safety and preventing
the spread of the epidemic.”
In the event of a positive test for the
virus within the bubble, authorities would
follow the same protocols as they would
were it detected outside, Yan said.
“We believe that these measures can
effectively reduce the risk of the pandemic
and that they can not only ensure the safe
and convenient participation of athletes
and all Olympic personnel in training,
matches, and work, but also protect the
health and safety of the Chinese people,”
said Yan.
The country has taken drastic
measures, including frequent lockdowns
and mass testing, to handle domestic
outbreaks, although it has yet to stamp out
infections entirely.
The spread of the omicron mutation of
the virus is the latest challenge to face the
Beijing Games, already beset by technical
and political challenges ranging from a
lack of flights for athletes and staff to a
diplomatic boycott from the U.S. and
others to protest China’s human-rights
abuses.
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