oh, smart nature, ah, for a longer, healthier and fuller life. one of the most insightful discoveries in the history of mankind. down the hedge, likes sports february 16th on d w. you're watching t w news asia coming up today, the breakout star of the olympics. but not without controversy. you take a closer look at free style. skier, eileen goop us born and representing china showing once again the complex intersection between sports and politics. plus a team of one we profile india's only competitor at the games and is did for glory and high achievement of

a different kind. a store in tokyo showcases the skill and value of workers with disabilities. ah, i melissa chan, thanks for joining us. it's no secret that china has staked a lot of national pride in a successful beijing winter olympics. so it's perhaps no small irony that one of the host nations crowning moment so far has come from an athlete born in the united states. her name is eileen gu, the chinese american freestyle skier opted to represent a china at the games. while many olympians have switched country representations in the past. her choice comes at a low point in us china relations. and also after a year long campaign by human rights groups who called for a boy hot because of beijing systemic detention of an estimated 1000000 weaker

muslims and other minorities whose national allegiances were questions at a news conference following her gold medal victory. she was quizzed on whether she still held a us passport. officially china bands, citizens from holding to nationalities, but go repeatedly avoided giving the question a straight answer. here's what she said, quote, i definitely feel as though i'm just as american as i am chinese. i'm american when i'm in the u. s. and i'm chinese, when i'm in china and quote, she also made no reference to china's human rights record though she has been vocal about social justice issues in the u. s. such as the black lives matter movement, quote. i know that i have a good heart and i know that my reasons for making the decisions i do are based on a greater common interest. if people don't believe me, and if people don't like me,

then that's their loss. they're never going to win the olympics or chinese, he praise on eileen grew another olympian with a similar background has experienced a radically different games. california born figure skater. jew, you gave up us citizenship to compete for china. but she was savaged on social media after falling several times during her event. abuse was so bad, the chinese social network way, boy suspended dozens of accounts and deleted hundreds of posts. some of them telling to read, to quote, go back to america. she's also been picked on for her, shaky mander in all this underscoring that china, sports industrial complex mostly cares about winners and we have human rights watches, yet you won joining us yet. you. what do you make of the island go controversy? well, i think there is a real flash, you know, the polarization in the us in the,

in china, because i ultimately don't see, you know, she's representing china is too much a problem. the problem i see that, you know, she has such a platform, she has such a voice in china, but you know, she's using the voice to you some way defend to come to party, give you an example. so he posted a something always to graham, then someone asked me, you know, the chinese people inside kind of can't use instagram. how do you say about that? and he said, well, it's easy because you can just literally download an app in the app store for free . but that is not true because the app store, i mean, go using is the us app, store it in i phone because, you know, there are many vps available, but that's the vpn is not available in the app store in china. so, you know, he's trying to make things look better than it is about china also he mentioned

about post, right. he said, oh, i'm very happy to see that she attended my event. you know, he's out there out about without to mention the broader context to that poster. it doesn't actually have the freedom to speak her mind. it's very interesting about hung for, of course we, we know that the international olympic committee is, thomas bock has made some comments. could you tell us a little bit more about that controversy because it's been embedded into the games . yes. you know, tom, bob has had several calls with punch. try to show that, you know, look, he's doing fine. she told me, she's great, she's house a has freedom. but to this we are know that, you know, this is part of the chinese government's a stage to appearance. are people who, you know, had, who are craig on the government. then they got disappeared and they got reappeared

because the government told them to say whatever they want to say, i think of the i o c to play a role, a huge big international organization to play our role of a long running propaganda scheme is very shameful. and then the last to the latest episode is thomas bach and i can i link who's event? yeah, it's very interesting. so essentially what you're saying is that the i o c's comments, which a lot of people outside china really doubt about the safety and security of punctuation is being echoed by aileen goose. so she's spreading this message that there's nothing to see here. uh, but at the end of the day, she's just 18 years old. so to an extent, it's not very fair to dissect everything. i mean go says, so i'm wondering about the ecosystem around her. how does she fit into china's support system and within the single party state?

i mean, she, i agree. i mean, she's 18 year old. so, you know, you cannot, you know, up off too much about her being playing a role for, you know, raising human rights issues in china. but at the same time, you know, she, i think she is being used a to in the political system. she know she was born in the us, she's great, pretty talented. he's wealthy, perfect woman. now he chose not to us, but china, her motherland. you know, this woman who was great and she wanted to return to the motherland to represent the motherland. so there is absolutely this nationalistic sentiment around to her. i don't want her image. i mean, this is so part and parcel about of why he is so popular in china. yeah, and you talk about her excellence and this excellence has chosen to represent a state with human rights problems. can you connect everything we've talked about in terms of on the sports and human rights? why does human rights matter in this instance?

well, oh human life is so bad. i mean, crimes against humanity are happening. john, just the situation is so bad. you can no longer just say, you know, this is not a politics. let's not talk about plants politics. a 1000000 people are been in prison in those camps for literally been who they are, the you cannot not talk about it. right. and then this is the one thing as 2nd is that i think the chinese government is using the game as a political tool. so you cannot just tell a lot of people not to criticize you while you are entirely using the the game as a tool yourself. yet how long? thank you so much for joining us. thank you for having me staying with the winter olympics and in alpine gear with the hopes of a nation resting on his shoulders. iris con is india is one and only representative

at the games. he told the w how a strong showing in beijing just might change his life. i'll find here are the of con, practice hard in that on up to the be jingle mpeg. he's india as only hope. windows sports are not a big thing in india. but there are best single mug in indian administered kashmir . khan started skiing that at ford. and his father runs se shop. he's aiming high in beijing. my a my focus his as performing well and trying to be in the top assets in the world. i have to go for a big race and when i have to perform to win something that it turn change like from the rest of the life khan has had to crowd fund his travel to competitions and men lead trains abroad. his deputation has run him many fan. what struck me and still does to this day is his devotion to the sport,

despite all the challenges and are at the same time his devotion to furthering this sport of skiing in india, where it's still in its infancy. and we can see a lot of growth. india has never run into a lump method. hon hope steward, leave me an installation ah, to japan now a country where people with disabilities are still very much in invisible minority . public spaces often fail to accommodate those with mobility issues, workplaces can even segregate them from other employees. things have started to change more since the paralympic games in tokyo last year. and in the capital one shop sells items produced by those with disabilities. part of a small but growing movement to make society more inclusive. color full hand made and each is one of her kind. this store in a trendy talk, your neighbourhood self,

exclusively items made by disabled people. it's a rarity into pen. the sop as even listed in tourist guide books and on travel websites credit alex good little more know their work and their products are so valuable, but they were invisible. it's like, i never used to see them before. i look at them should only thing foot mortal, got the idea for his shop after buying wooden toys made by people with intellectual disabilities that made him start asking why disabled people are largely invisible in japan society. normally they live from a small pension and aren't present in the workforce. many families even hide them at home. but foot motor shop now give them a showcase for their skills. the, you know, i'm heavily my products on sale. you know,

i want customers to be able to see my bags and scarfs for me, go me to see how she has worked here for many years. every one of the workshop creates according to their likes and abilities. oh, daughter. i am making fabric, fuss, calves, and i use wool and cotton for the weaving. and with it, the workers he received the equivalent of a 130 years. the mans? heartbreakingly smiled. some 1st caretaker mino, had tore or more send you nanny, some people who work here for more than 30 years. they've been leaving since this cool day school today for their so experienced that i think we should refer to them as artisans home. but like many places in the world,

the change of attitudes in japan could be a long way away. for now, stereotypes prevail when it comes to people with disabilities. but in foot immortal store, at least they are valuable asset. that's it for today. be sure to check out her other stories on d, w dot com, ford slash asia, or on facebook and twitter. thanks for watching and have a good weekend with shane live and on demand gas in language courses, video and audio. any time anywhere. the d. w media center, the green. do you feel worried about the planet we to

i'm neil, host of the on the grievance of cost and to me it's clear. we need to change the solutions out there. join me for a deep dive into the green transformation. for me to do full of them. mm hm. mm ah, a sharp rebound from a deep dive. britain's economy grew by a record 7 and a half percent last year. staging a partial recovery from a pandemic driven historic collapse of more from our correspondence. and also the show as the so called giga factory, outside of berlin, is almost ready to go. but approval from authorities is still pending. our bureaucratic processes in germany,

too lengthy will get an experts and with inflation climbing to a 40 year high will take you to kentucky cole country where rising prices are hitting hard in a region already wrecked by parking on pros cobra when boxes, program springs, economy rebounded by a record 7 and a half percent last year on easy coven curves staging a parcel recovery from a pandemic driven historic collapse. the u. k. economy increased by one percent in the 4th quarter. despite the emergence of the army. current cove at various british finance minister issues to knock saying the economy, quote proved remarkably resilient for moralist goes over to london. and our correspondent, big mass bigot, tell us, it's just, this is just a rebound from a coven crash? or is there more to these figures the

government and we he soon as he has mentioned that.