Olympics Immigrant

Immigrants Bring Home the Gold for the U.S. Olympics Team

From their meme-worthy Opening Ceremony gloves to some stunning wins on the halfpipe, Team USA has started the 2018 Winter Olympics off with a bang. Early victories in the Pyeongchang, South Korea games would not be possible without this entire group of 242 talented

Americans—including the multiple athletes that have benefited from the United States’ immigration system and have gone on to compete for our country.

It’s not just the United States, either – countries all over the world benefit from having welcoming immigration policies.

Roughly 6 percent—or 178 Olympians—of all athletes in in this year’s games are competing for a country they weren’t born in. In fact, 12 countries are represented by athletes that are exclusively foreign-born, including Nigeria, Tonga, Bermuda, and Thailand.

One of these athletes is Maame Biney, who immigrated to the United States from Ghana at age five. She is the first black woman on the U.S. Olympic speedskating team and has stunned viewers with her agility on the ice.

Biney initially tried out ice skating after moving to the United States but was instructed by a coach to do speedskating instead – even as a child, she was too fast for ice skating. Judging by her successes with Team USA, speedskating obviously won out.