Black/Asian 13 year old Olympic hopeful

[BillBlythe]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/sp...tml?ref=sports

The youngest child of an African-American father and an Asian mother, she has been compared to another biracial prodigy who blossomed in a mostly white sport. The connection to Tiger Woods is perhaps inevitable, but Neal prefers being mentioned in the same breath as Cynthia Woodhead, a swimmer in the 1970s who, like Neal, qualified for the Olympic trials in the freestyle as a 12-year-old.

As a fan of swimming I'll probably keep an eye out for Lia Neal in the future. Hopefully she'll be a strong contender in 4 years to come.

[SunWuKong]

but Neal prefers being mentioned in the same breath as Cynthia Woodhead

damn, "Woodhead" as your last name? that had to be a tough childhood.

[Sunflare]

Here's the article featured in the NY Daily News:



At 13, Brooklyn's Lia Neal quietly making some big waves
BY MARK LELINWALLA
NY DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, February 26th 2008, 11:32 AM

She has been setting swimming records since the age of 10, with five national marks already accredited to her name. In late January, she shattered a near 23-year-old record to qualify for the U.S. Olympic swim trials in Omaha, Neb., this June.

All that … and she just turned 13 two weeks ago. Downtown Brooklyn's Lia Neal is certainly one to watch.

Neal, a seventh-grade student at Sacred Heart on the Upper East Side, qualified for the Olympic trials by clocking a time of 56.87 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle late last month.

The time bested the national 11-12 age-group record for the 100-meter freestyle by 1.3 seconds; the previous mark had been untouched since 1985.

At 13, Neal is the amongst the youngest girls ever to have qualified for the Olympic swimming trials.

Girl's from Brooklyn, NY ! w00t! w00t! :biggrin:

link: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high_school/2008/02/26/2008-02-26_at_13_brooklyns_lia_neal_quietly_making_.html

[proazn]

I hope she does well... but she looks so black, no one would think she's asian. (unless they're related to her)

[popculturepooka]

^ And we all know how important that is to you.

[Sunflare]

There are lots of Blasians out there that practically look full Asian too, WTF?. Well again, like that's important as Pooka said, but just to clear things up a bit here. . . .

[didu]

damn, "Woodhead" as your last name? that had to be a tough childhood.

better than having "dickhead' as your last name ...

[proazn]

There are lots of Blasians out there that practically look full Asian too, WTF?. Well again, like that's important as Pooka said, but just to clear things up a bit here. . . .

yah and don't you like how the media calls Tiger Woods as the first black person to play professional golf?

Have you all noticed all blasian athletes have black fathers and asian mothers? they will always be considered black first.

[Sunflare]

yah and don't you like how the media calls Tiger Woods as the first black person to play professional golf?

Hell no. That crap get's me heated. I don't believe in the drop one race rule.

Have you all noticed all blasian athletes have black fathers and asian mothers? they will always be considered black first.

Yeah, of course. Mainly because of social pressures placed on the athlete and because of the race biased media labeling mixed Asians with racist stereotypes based on the one race rule crap.

The same biased media that makes AMs look like they are all sorry ass computer geeks who cant get a date and/or all bad guys fighting kung fu and speak bad english.

. . . and make all AFs look like mystifying exotic sex objects. Geishas and dragon ladies kowtowing to YT. You know the deal.

This point was discussed over and over and over again in many other threads time and time again.

We all get fucked up by it. The damn media and the sexist/racist stereotypes they use to exploit and rape the image of APAs in this country.

And now that you mention it, all white and black Hapas for that matter, who represent part of the APA population.