Talk:Jeremy Smith (ice hockey)

Nationality

I haven't made any edits to the article yet, but it looks like there is some dispute in the edits that have been made as to his dual nationality. According to the IOC he has to be a national of China to compete, just as much as someone like Eileen Gu. The IOC seems to require a passport as evidence. The IIHF also describes the naturalized players as "dual nationals." According to Kunlun Red Star, all players on the national team are citizens of China. Is there anything to reverting the edits that say he is a national of China? -- YgFZAcpJUJ (talk) 18:51, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

First of all: baselessly accusing other editors of racism is a personal attack and you would be better served to strike out your last sentence. I have reverted the addition of Chinese nationality in the lead because they were not supported by references in the article and were all added by IPs over the last months, without edit summaries. Under the Chinese nationality law, naturalization is exceptionally rare: in 2010, out of a population of 1.3 billion, there were only 1,448 naturalized persons. Hence my inherent skepticism as to whether these players, who have been in China for less than three years, have actually acquired citizenship. Since China does not allow dual citizenship, I find it hard to believe that these players have renounced their American citizenship just to compete in the Olympics. Your linked Twitter source is likely not reliable, especially since the account is non-verified. A reliable source such as The Guardian makes no reference to the citizenship of the players, only stating: "The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) permits players to represent a country if they have lived and played in a league there for two years, and have transferred to the new national association." In another source, players have chosen not to answer questions about their citizenship: "What he would not answer was whether he had to renounce his American citizenship to compete for China – questions that Chinese-American big air gold medal winner Eileen Gu also would not comment on. According to the Associated Press, the men’s hockey players who are U.S. or Canadian citizens have not been asked to renounce their native citizenships, but Chinese law prohibits dual citizenship." intforce (talk) 00:34, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Fair enough. I changed the last line, though I wasn't calling out any specific editor, but just looking at the edit history as a whole. I understand there are questions about renunciation of previous citizenship, but it seems fair to include the confirmation from Kunlun Red Star that they have Chinese citizenship if the statement is attributed to the team. The Kunlun Red Star Twitter account is featured on and also linked to from the team's official website (https://hcredstar.com), which is also on the team's Wikipedia page. The IIHF does also require citizenship for players in Olympic competition. -- YgFZAcpJUJ (talk) 00:52, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

The Chinese government also prohibits dual citizenship, but does not seem to enforce the rule consistently. The current wording in the article ("According to Kunlun Red Star") is acceptable. I would be careful before presenting this as fact before we have a definitive confirmation in some reliable source. intforce (talk) 10:52, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Agree. It's possible this is "citizenship" that only lasts for the duration of the games or something. So while I think it makes sense to say that Kunlun Red Star said he became a citizen in order to be eligible to compete at the Olympics according to IIHF/IOC regulations, we don't know and can't claim that that means he is now a citizen of China for life. -- YgFZAcpJUJ (talk) 16:03, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

There seem to be no credible information that these players are not citizens of China. There is abundant information in reliable sources that, in order to compete in Olympic Games in any sport, as well as IIHF competitions, you have to hold the citizenship corresponding to the jersey on your back. See e.g. Shachar, Ayelet. "Picking Winners: Olympic Citizenship and the Global Race for Talent". The Yale Law Journal. or Jansen, Joost. "Nationality swapping in the Olympic Games 1978–2017". International Review for the Sociology of Sport.. I believe they should be referred to as American-Chinese (which implies dual citizenship) or American-born Chinese. Anyway, seen the many indications that they are actually Chinese , I suggest that WP:BURDEN should be on those who want to remove the Chinese mention to prove that they are not Chinese citizens. Place Clichy (talk) 17:30, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Those are reliable sources for the rules themselves, not for their application in this particular case. Saying x must be true if y holds just because the rules say y requires x is a classic example of WP:SYNTH. Also, that's not how WP:BURDEN works. I quote here YgFZAcpJUJ's insightful comment at Talk:Eileen Gu: There are actually questions if the naturalized athletes even really have Chinese nationality. One report from a family of an athlete that was approached to compete for China said that they are not actually given nationality (as the sports governing bodies require) but are given a passport for use during competition and when registering with sports governing bodies, etc. The passport is then taken back when competition is over. That way the requirements of both China's nationality law and the sports governing bodies are satisfied in a way. Then from the IOC's perspective they have nationality, even if not from China's. I'm not implying that this is true, but once again no one has brought forward a single reliable source that clearly states that these players have permanently adopted Chinese citizenship, when there are sources that question the validity of this claim. intforce (talk) 17:40, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Yes, since then the IOC confirmed that they saw a Chinese passport for the naturalized athlete Eileen Gu. There is also an image of her passport in that thread. So I think from the sports governing bodies' point of view, they are citizens as required. The question seems to be whether China is possibly bending its own nationality law to make them citizens or whether they possibly received a fully legal less-than-citizen status like permanent residency but were given passports to display to the IIHF/IOC as proof of citizen status. -- YgFZAcpJUJ (talk) 17:46, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Well, being a Chinese citizen does not give you many rights anyway, so I'm not sure what being less-than-citizen would mean. In this Chicago Tribune article, we read: "At the start of a conversation between [Vancouver-born goaltender Kimberly] Newell and English-speaking reporters Sunday, a team staff member accompanying the goalie said she would speak only Chinese.". That sounds like a typical Chinese citizen experience to me. Place Clichy (talk) 21:32, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

"Less-than-citizen" would just refer to any immigration status short of being naturalized as a citizen. Most countries, including China, have "permanent residency" (green card, etc.) that immigrants can get to live in a place as long as they want without the full range of privileges that citizens have. Immigration statuses less than permanent residency would be those for residence permits that expire and have to be renewed and visas for various purposes like China's 10-year multiple-entry business and tourist visas. Being a citizen has a technical legal definition; it's not about experience speaking a language, though she and all of them seem like they are citizens, at least for the duration of their Chinese national team careers. -- YgFZAcpJUJ (talk) 01:52, 12 February 2022 (UTC)

So you are quoting a discussion forum post, hearsay and a Youtube video without actually even managing to say explicitly that they are not Chinese nationals. You even seem to recognize that they, in fact, hold Chinese citizenship.

Anyway, I think this discussion will soon become moot, seen the amount of coverage that naturalized Olympians from China and elsewhere are getting, in very reliable sources. Examples:

• Ellingworth, Jake (8 February 2022). "North American-born Chinese Olympians get their shot at gold — including Chris Chelios' son Jake on the hockey team". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 February 2022.. This article explicitly cites Jake Chelios and Jeremy Smith, calls them "naturalized athletes", cites their Chinese names and comments on Chinese citizenship rules.
• Wyshynski, Greg (9 February 2022). "Winter Olympics 2022: Inside the odd Olympic journey of China's men's hockey team". ESPN.com. Retrieved 11 February 2022. China does not allow dual citizenship, but it's known to make exceptions for foreign athletes. [...] "To play in the Olympics, you have to have a passport for the country [with whom] you're competing. I looked it up: I think there were 180 Olympians in Tokyo [2020] that participated under a passport that is not of their birth country," said Smith.

On the other hand, affirming that "they are not actually given nationality (as the sports governing bodies require)" seems to be quite a severe accusation. Reverting the mention of them being Chinese on the basis of these seemingly unfounded accusations is borderline. Place Clichy (talk) 21:32, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Your second source quotes Smith as saying: "To play in the Olympics, you have to have a passport for the country [with whom] you're competing." Note that he does not explicitly mention citizenship, possibly quite deliberately so. The first source mentions naturalization, but once again it is not clear what this exactly entails. Nationality should be removed from the lead, similar to Eileen Gu and other contentious cases, until the situation is more clear. For instance, if he renounced his U.S. citizenship, the lead should read "American-born Chinese". intforce (talk) 22:02, 12 February 2022 (UTC)

Another RS in the WSJ today:

“ How the host country managed to field a national team of mostly foreign nationals—despite International Olympic Committee rules that require competitors to be citizens of the country they represent—is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Beijing Games. Building this roster involved [...] possibly some rule bending by Olympics organizers. None of the bodies directly responsible for Team China’s hockey squad—the Chinese Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation or the IOC—will respond to questions about the team’s large foreign contingent. [...] Jake Chelios confirmed that he and several of his Team China teammates still have their American passports. When asked whether he had naturalized as a Chinese citizen, Chelios said, “I don’t think we’re supposed to comment on that.” [...] According to Kunlun Red Star’s website, seven of the foreign-born players have Chinese heritage and have “long-established dual national” status. [...] [Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter] gives the IOC Executive Board the ability to make exceptions of a “general or individual nature” to its nationality rules. The IOC didn’t answer repeated questions about whether its Executive Board made an exception for Team China, reiterating the language of Rule 41 and deferring comment to the Chinese government. ”

Once again, this does not answer the question whether these players are actually Chinese citizens now. --intforce (talk) 01:41, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

I think the information available is pretty clear. The Chicago Tribune article explicitly refers to Chelios and Smith as naturalized athletes, which means they are Chinese nationals. In the ESPN article, the interview quote of Smith saying that "To play in the Olympics, you have to have a passport for the country [with whom] you're competing" clearly means that he does have a Chinese passport, which means Chinese citizenship. Both articles also have unambiguous statements that both players kept their American citizenship. In fact I've never seen any indication that they would have renounced their American citizenship. On the other hand, the WSJ journal, according to your quote above, merely cites an absence of comment. Also, it is behind a paywall and that does not help to judge its arguments. RS giving clear statements should probably trump articles which, in fact, say nothing, in addition to being behind a paywall. There seems to be no RS that affirmatively writes that 1°) they are not Chinese or 2°) they are no longer American, while there are RS saying the opposite. Place Clichy (talk) 19:34, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

This is not how RS sourcing works. The Chicago Tribute refers to the athletes as being naturalized. The ESPN article actively questions whether the athletes have been naturalized. Per WP:DUE, the article should not only reflect the Chicago Tribunes' reporting. Also, having the passport of a country does not mean you are a citizen: "some people entitled to a passport may not be full citizens with right of abode" (from passport). Your paywall argument carries no weight, see WP:PAYWALL. intforce (talk) 23:47, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

This is not how WP:DUE works. If there was a variety of sources that (A) say that these players have Chinese citizenship and others that (B) say that they do not have Chinese citizenship, then you could look for a writing in the line of some say A and some say B. At present, you have RS saying A, but not a single RS has been brought up that says B. The WSJ article quoted above instead uses language such as declined to comment, didn’t answer repeated questions, deferring comment etc. which in fact gives no information at all. Of course it would be highly unlikely that a RS would report that some Chinese Olympian does not hold Chinese citizenship, which would make them ineligible or involve foul play from at least the IOC, the international and national sports federations, the Chinese government and the players themselves. That's probably why this foul play theory is confined to Youtube and Twitter soap-box speakers only listening to themselves.

The ESPN article does not actively question whether the athletes have been naturalized. (Or perhaps can you cite an abstract for this interpretation?) In fact it is pretty clear in the opposite. Quote: "To play in the Olympics, you have to have a passport for the country [with whom] you're competing, [...]" said Smith.

Another source: "North American-born Chinese Olympians get chance to shine". ABC News. 8 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2022. China is fielding naturalized athletes at the Beijing Games in an effort to popularize winter sports and be represented across the Olympic program. [...] The naturalized athletes come from a variety of origins. Unlike Chelios, many of them have Chinese heritage and see the 2022 Games as a way to strengthen a connection to their family origins.

In fact, awarding citizenship, or double citizenship, for sports reasons is probably as old as international sports. See e.g. article Oriundo which describes the phenomenon in the context of Italy and Spain. What is there really to shout about?

In the spirit of WP:DUE, neutrality, and the MOS:OPENPARABIO guideline, I suggest the following wording changes:

1. In the lede section: mention American-Chinese dual nationality, as sourced by the Chicago Tribune, ESPN and ABC News, as well as the appearance on China's ice hockey team in the 2022 Olympics. Example: Jeremy Smith (born April 13, 1989) is an American-Chinese<ref> professional ice hockey goaltender. Born in the United States, he is currently playing with HC Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), and represented China at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
2. In the International play section use wording such as: He became a dual American-Chinese citizen in order to be eligible to represent the nation at the Olympics,<ref> although some sources question how far were bent the otherwise strict Chinese rules on double nationality and Olympic participation rules.<ref> The first part of the sentence should be sourced by Chicago Tribune, ESPN and ABC News, and the second part by WSJ and whatever other reliable source that questions if rules were bent without affirming one way or the other.

I also think that the reference to the "Chinese" name should be put in the International play section rather than the lede, because that's not what these players are most know for. I coud live with it appearing in the lede though, provided that it is linked to the appearance in the Chinese national team but not HC Kunln Red Star (we have no source for that). Place Clichy (talk) 10:02, 14 February 2022 (UTC)

Why are you so adamant about compressing and simplifying information in the lead sentence? When the nationality issue is not without controversy, it is common practice to exclude it from the lead sentence and explain the situation in detail somewhere else. When the player declines to comment whether he has Chinese citizenship, why are you trying to force this in the first sentence? Nationality in the lead sentence is not simply a matter of which citizenship you hold. See for example Frédéric Chopin, who was undoubtedly a French citizen, yet is commonly referred to as Polish. intforce (talk) 19:01, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Presenting a simple concise information in the lead sentence is not contradictory with expanding and giving more contextual details in a lower paragraph. Jeremy Smith did not declined to comment whether he has Chinese citizenship, he explicitly confirmed it, according to the interview quote cited by ESPN ("To play in the Olympics, you have to have a passport for the country [with whom] you're competing, [...]" said Smith.). Being an American-Chinese player that represented China in the Olympics is also probably what Smith is most known for. They will certainly leave him a place in history more than any of his other achievements, such a second-round NHL draft selection by the Nashville Predators, 10 games with the Colorado Avalanche, regular play for a last-place KHL team or a play-off MVP award in the ECHL. This information (that he his an American-Chinese professional hockey player) is therefore notable, balanced and concise. It forms a perfect opening sentence. Place Clichy (talk) 10:03, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Once again, having a passport does not not imply nationality. Smith is not known for being an American-Chinese player. He is known for being an American player, who through bureaucratic maneuvering somehow managed to play for China. Again, nationality in the lead sentence is not always about the actual citizenship of the person, but what they are labelled as in reliable sources. Most media continue to refer to Smith as American. intforce (talk) 11:42, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Having a passport implies nationality. I think you are confusing with some type of permanent residency, which gives you the right to a certain type of official identity document, but certainly not a passport or the eligibility to play in international sports competitions such as the Olympic Games. If you consider that the naturalization of athletes in international sports is bureaucratic maneuvering, you may very well be right, but it is not specific to China, ice hockey or these Olympic Games. It is as old as sports itself. Reliable sources do refer to Jeremy Smith and his teammates as Chinese: see e.g. the captions of these stock pictures from Reuters and other news agencies: February 12, 2022. Marcel Brandt of Germany in action with Jieruimi Shimisi of China February 10, 2022. Jieke Kailiaossi of China, Fu Jiang of China, Luo Jia of China, Fu Shuai of China, Zheng Enlai of China and Jieruimi Shimisi of China. David Wolf of Germany (M) gets a shot off against goalkeeper Jieruimi Shimisi (Jeremy Smith) and Jieke Kailiaosi (Jake Chelios) of China. 10th Feb, 2022. Shimisi Jieruimi (front) of China reacts before the start of ice hockey men's Group A match between the United States and China. Note that if I remember correctly, some international sports federations, including maybe the IIHF or the IRB, do allow a player to wear a national team's jersey under certain other conditions such as length of residency and/or absence of play for any other national teams beyond a certain junior level, regardless of nationality. However, the Olympics restricts eligibility to nationals. Place Clichy (talk) 15:01, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Having a passport implies nationality For what it's worth, countries can generally issue passports to any people they want to. For instance, Commonwealth citizens can obtain British emergency passports without being British nationals. Under some circumstances, EU member countries are also able to provide you with travel documents even if you are not a citizen of the issuing country. Stock photos are hardly reliable sources, but even if, "... of China" does not refer to nationality or citizenship, but only indicates who the player is playing for. If in some tournament the German national team decided to borrow a non-German player, a photo caption would still read "... of Germany", even if the player in question were not German. However, the Olympics restricts eligibility to nationals. Just like China does not allow dual citizenship. And yet here we are. intforce (talk) 21:27, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

You're playing on words here. When Smith says that "To play in the Olympics, you have to have a passport for the country [with whom] you're competing", that is an explicit reference to Olympic participation rules, i.e. citizenship. That cannot be understood as something similar to an emergency passport or a residency permit without citizenship. The fact that, according to you, China does not allow dual citizenship does not seem to be relevant here when there are reliable sources stating that these sportspeople were naturalized to represent China in the Olympics. Naturalization of sportspeople is something extremely common in international sports, well beyond China or the United States. It has been seen with nations with even much stricter usual nationality rules, e.g. the Gulf states. Let's take other examples on how these sportive nationalities are mentioned in other article's intro lines or lead paragraphs (emphasis):

• Chester Jarrel "C. J." Giles, Jr. (born September 23, 1985) is an American-Bahraini professional basketball player for Ezzahra Sports of the Championnat National A, as well as national player for Bahrain.
• Fernando Henrique da Conceição [...] is a professional footballer who last played as a winger for Chinese Super League club Guangzhou.
  Born in Brazil, he obtained Chinese citizenship through naturalization.

Would any of these formats be acceptable to you? In any case, I believe that Chinese citizenship should appear in the intro in some form or another, next to any other nationality held at some point, because MOS:OPENPARABIO explicitly lists nationality as one of the most notable things to describe a person. Place Clichy (talk) 09:38, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

References