Timed for AAPI Heritage Month in May, Barbie is releasing a new doll based on Olympian figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, who herself loved Barbies as a child.
Like many little girls, a young Kristi Yamaguchi loved playing with Barbie. With a schedule packed with ice skating practices, her Barbie dolls became her 'best friends.' So, it's surreal for the decorated Olympian figure skater to now be a Barbie girl herself. 'It’s a huge, huge honor.
When she captured the gold over 50 years later, media coverage partially focused on why she didn't seem to have many endorsement deals. In an AP article from 1992, a sports advertising executive blamed her Japanese heritage, citing an economic climate that was anti-Japan. 'It’s wrong, wrong, wrong, but that is the way it is,' the executive said. So while Barbie may seem like just a toy, it's so much more for Yamaguchi.
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