Tiger Woods, Cathy Freeman, Mike Bibby and Aron Winter are from different countries, and backgrounds, but they have one thing in common - they all have Chinese blood in their veins.
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods is one of the all-time greats of golf. The World No. 1 earned more than 117 million US dollars in 2008 alone. He has won fourteen major golf championships and was Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year four times. He is the only person to be named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year more than once.
Woods says he is "Cablinasian" (a mix of Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian). His father is half African American, quarter Chinese and quarter Native American. His mother is half Thai, quarter Chinese and quarter Dutch. This makes Woods one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch.
Woods has said he would like to become a spokesman for ethnic minorities. "When I stop [playing], I will organize an association exclusively for minority children to fulfill their dreams."
Cathy Freeman
Cathy Freeman made history at the Sydney Olympics in the year 2000. She lit the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony on September 15 and eleven days later she won the 400m final and Australia's 100th Olympic gold.
Cathy Freeman is the first aboriginal athlete to represent Australia at the Olympics.
She was named Laureus Sportswoman of the Year in 2001.
"I'm one-eighth Chinese," says Freeman. "You may not imagine that from my appearance but my mother's grandparents were Chinese who migrated to Australia from Guangdong." She says her mother likes to drink jasmine tea. "She also likes gardening. She's hardworking," says Freeman. But she admits she knows little about China and wants learn more.
Mike Bibby
Mike Bibby is point guard for the Atlanta Hawks. During the 2001-02 NBA season, Bibby guided the Kings to the Western Conference Finals where they lost to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. On February 2008, the Atlanta Hawks acquired Bibby in exchange for four players.
During the NBA All-Star Weekend this year, Bibby revealed his close relation with China. "You know what? I have Chinese ancestry," said Bibby. "My maternal grandmother came from China." Bibby has his grandmother's surname "Tang" tattooed on his right arm.
Bibby says his mother knows a lot about China and looks Chinese.
Aron Winter
The former Dutch national side soccer player was born in Suriname, like Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. He joined AFC Ajax when 18 years old and moved to Lazio in 1992. In 1996, Winter joined Inter Milan where he was part of the UEFA Cup winning side in 1998.
Winter was in the Dutch national team that won the 1988 European Championship. He also played in the 90, 94 and 98 World Cups.
Winter is the seventh most capped player in Dutch history, having represented his country 84 times.
Winter is one-quarter Chinese and may qualify as the first Chinese ever to play in a World Cup Final. His grandfather, Zhang Junqiang, was a Chinese businessman who married a Surinamese woman. The family eventually migrated to Holland.
When Winter played against Chinese team on May 29, 1996, he scored one of the goals in a 2-0 victory. As he shook hands with the Chinese players before the match, he said to them in Mandarin "I'm Chinese too."
