Canadian-born goaltender for Team China not allowed to speak English at news conference

A goaltender playing for China's women's hockey team at the Olympics let reporters know during a recent interview that she was barred from speaking English.

Zhou Jiaying, who also goes by Kimberly Newell, was born in British Columbia, but is Chinese on her mother's side. She can speak Mandarin, English, and French. During a recent gathering with reporters, she was taking questions in Chinese when one of them asked if she could answer in English.

"She's not allowed to speak English," a translator told the reporter in English. "I'll try to translate for her."

Later in the news conference, Newell was asked about the name she adopted for the Olympics. She answered through the translator, who told reporters Jia means like 'nice' and 'warm' and 'beautiful'. She then leaned over to the translator and whispered 'auspicious.' The translator then clarified the meaning. Auspicious means conducive to success.

No explanation was ever given on why Newell couldn't speak English at the news conference. The 26-year-old won a gold medal at the IIHF Women's U18 World Championships in 2013, where she represented Canada. She plays professionally with the Zhenskaya Hockey League's KRS Vanke Rays. That league is comprised of nine teams from Russia and one from China.

Source: Reuters.com

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