The Olympics are probably the only time where I actually care about sports. Other than the times when the Cubs clinched the World Series and were on the verge of doing it again, there really wasn’t a time in my life where I actually extensively cared about sports.

With that being said, the sport part of the Olympics wasn’t the only reason why I enjoyed the games in Pyeongchang that just wrapped up. I also loved this year’s games because of the excellence that Asian athletes had shown in Korea. Whether it was Chloe Kim in snowboarding or Mirai Nagasu and Nathan Chen nailing it in their figure skating routines, the Asian in me was internally crying tears of joy at all of the representation it saw at these games.

But while it’s so great that we’re seeing all of these amazing people of color bask in the limelight of the Olympic stage, it raises a further question of the struggle of Asian-Americans to fully assimilate into American culture.

Of course, the lack of representation is one factor to this. I can attest to that, as the only Asian persona I saw on TV on a regular basis growing up was a local news anchor in Chicago named Linda Yu. And of course, we have the whitewashing of Asian characters in media, such as Scarlet Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell” and Nat Wolff in the Netflix adaption of “Death Note”.

But moreover, it’s the underlying assumption that assimilation is a race to see who can be the most “white”. In other words, it’s a race to see who can break Asian stereotypes the fastest. Throughout the web, I’ve read so many personal accounts from many first-generation Asian-Americans of what this specifically meant. Some of the things they were asked ranged from who’s house reeked the least of incense to who had the least strict parents to even who would be the first to date a white guy?

While this may seem just like child’s play at the surface, all of the accounts further mention that this little game as children had become internalized as they grew; the race of assimilation had alienated them from their culture.

This is not to say that assimilation is a bad thing, but it can be extremely problematic, especially in the situation with Asian-American Olympians in Pyeongchang. The so-called assimilation “game” that is internalized in many Asian-Americans perpetuates the notion that every Asian-American is always “fresh off the boat”, not knowing a word of English or being able to locate Chicago on a map. It’s the reason why we see headlines like “American Beats Out Kwan” when Tara Lipinski of Team USA beat her fellow teammate Michelle Kwan for gold.

Or, take Chrissy Teigen’s word for it when a "New York Times"reporter tweeted a "Hamilton" lyric about immigrants when writing about Mirai Nagasu. In other words, when American society sees names like Jones, Johnson, or even Ramirez succeed, they often instantly get heralded as American icons, but names like Chen, Nagasu or Kim almost always get seen as foreigners. My Chinese family name is Wong, and sometimes I wonder how many people would presume I’m “fresh off the boat” if I went by that instead of Elliott, an Irish, white name.

So, while this article seems to be a Debbie downer after that whole Asian-American struggle, this is where the Olympics come in. Responses like those from Chrissy Teigen and Asian-Americans who are just as relatable as Chloe Kim put this toxic game Asian-Americans inadvertently play to bed.

With my generation evidently becoming more and more empowered in their identity on the daily, I have no doubt in my mind that Asian-Americans can finally join in on the chorus of being proud of who they are while being American at the same time. Because time and time again, we have been silent, and now is the time we can amplify our voices in the American story.