Episode 52: Garrick Chan, Founder of Asian Athlete Spotlight, on fighting racism and stereotypes

Social Sport

Garrick Chan is a former XC runner for San Jose State University. He currently competes at the sub-elite level, representing the brands Rabbit and Honey Stinger, and training with Wolfpack Running Club in the California Bay Area. In the fall of 2020, Garrick founded the Asian Athlete Spotlight Instagram page. On Asian Athlete Spotlight, he features Asian and Asian American athletes at all levels of all sports. His goal is to eradicate stereotyping and mistreatment of Asian Athletes. It is no secret that, over the past year, there has been an increase in racist speech and violence targeted at Asian Americans. So this topic, while always important, is especially crucial right now. Garrick was so brave to talk about some of the racism and stereotyping he has faced as an Asian American athlete, a topic which he has written about as well. I cannot wait to watch Asian athlete Spotlight continue to grow.

Discussed in this episode:

--Diverse We Run Instagram account

--Carolyn Su on Social Sport Podcast

--Garrick’s article, "The Running Stories that are Hard to Tell"

--Jeremy Lin and "Linsanity"

--Asian Athletes for Impact

--Picture of Garrick crossing the finish line of his first sub-16 minute 5k

--Wolfpack Running Club

Quote: “I always ask, what does society need to do in order to make an Asian athlete comfortable? Each athlete will come up with their own answer, and that’s what makes each feature unique. Some of the [features] that speak to me are the ones that say, ‘people need to stop making assumptions, instead, they need to ask questions and be a friend.’”

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--Follow Asian Athlete Spotlight

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