BEIJING (AP) — NHL great Chris Chelios’ son is playing for China at the Olympics, though you won’t see the Chelios name on the roster.
Like other foreign-born athletes representing China at the Beijing Games, Jake Chelios will play under a Chinese name.
In any official Olympic context, he will be Jieke Kailiaosi.
“My new name? I love it. It’s cool. It’s part of the experience. Since I’ve been over here, everything’s kind of new for me, and that’s the exciting part about playing overseas,” Chelios said at Saturday’s practice. “I know two or three words (in Chinese), but I took six years of Spanish in high school. I couldn’t even learn that, so I didn’t even try.”
China is eager to popularize winter sports and to be represented across the Olympic program, even in events where it hasn’t had much success in the past. In hockey, freestyle skiing and figure skating, China has athletes who were born and raised in North America.