[CondoleezzaProtege]

He's Nathan Chen's coach of 11 years, and Mariah Bell's as well. Arutyunyan and his wife became US Citizens in 2019 according to Wikipedia.

[Skywise]

I volunteer for tribute! Like that kind of system?

[FamiliarFace]

The difference here in the U.S. (as it used to be) is that when we are born, we are raised to think of ourselves as dependent on our parents and families first, until we gain adulthood. We used to never think of the government as being our “family” or who was looking out for us and raising us, and training us.

In Communist countries, it’s the opposite. The government is who raises you and who provides for you. The people have no autonomy from the government.

[Alberta's Child]

The best description of the distinction between American and Russian cultures came from the legendary Soviet hockey coach, Anatoly Tarasov. He was agonizing over how difficult it seemed for American hockey players to accomplish simple hockey tasks (I paraphrase):

"You can put men on the moon, you can train dolphins to do tricks in a pool, and you have dozens of different types of mayonnaise in your grocery stores ... but you can't pass a puck three meters to another player on the ice."

[PGR88]

In communist countries, kids were chosen at a very young age, went to special athletic academies away from home, lived in dormitories, trained all day. They earned increasing bonuses for every competitive win. It was their entire life

And for a poor peasant family, getting a child into one of these academies was a real mark of success. It got a family extra food, offered the chance of travel, a little more money, etc...

Those who didn’t make it to the highest levels nonetheless still had better opportunities. Air China and its state-run airlines, for example, still draw their air-stewardesses from the ranks of female gymnast or ballet/dance academies.

So there was incredible pressure and conformity. You did whatever you were told.

The systems haven’t changed that much, especially in China.

[aquila48]

Sounds very similar to the difference between freedom vs slavery.

[Yollopoliuhqui]

Guy takes an entire interview to basically say nothing. I think that’s the major cultural difference. Russians can’t talk directly, it’s all mealy mouth implication otherwise a one way trip to the basement of Lubianka Prison.