In November, espnWs weekly essay series will focus on giving.I first heard of Chinese Olympic swimmer Fu Yuanhui when someone on Facebook posted an article about her with the caption: I want to be her best friend. I winced and moved on. For days, I did not click on the link, until I saw even more people posting about her -- always with the same words. Shes amazing. I love her. Too real.Oh, no, I thought. Oh no. I knew exactly where this was going. But I clicked anyway.When I was in elementary school, I was the only Asian in my grade. On the playground, my classmates pretended to be Chinese, saying things like ching-chong-chaw and doing kung-fu. At my desk, I seethed but could not explain why -- only that it came from some deep feeling that my classmates were pretending to be Chinese the way kids pretend to be aliens or superheroes.One afternoon, my classmates had gathered around me, fascinated by my eyes. Theyre different, one of them announced, and then they all stepped in closer. I wondered if I had became a caricature by being fully Asian and half-Chinese.When I grew older, the narrative changed. After college, I spent some time studying Chinese in China, in an attempt to understand my mothers culture. The majority of my male classmates had arrived on a different quest: They wanted a girlfriend.Chinese women are beautiful, one of my classmates told me. He handed me his phone. The contacts list was filled with the names of women hed met clubbing. The album was packed with photographs of him wrapped around each of the women hed met, their faces green and silver from the flashing lights of the clubs.I cant speak the language, I hate the food here and I miss my family, he told me as he swiped through each picture so quickly the faces blurred together, but Im not going home until I get a girlfriend.Theyre different from American women, my apartment mate explained when I asked him about the allure. Theyre more feminine and more submissive. Perfect wife material.Chinese women had evolved to mean sexy. I couldnt decide if that was better or worse. Really, it was just about the same as being a caricature, but now served with a side of submission and breasts.With all of that in mind, I read all the stories and watched interviews of Fu Yuanhui, expecting a celebrity swimmer who was polite and poster beautiful.The unexpected happened: I too fell in love. I, too, wanted Fu Yuanhui to be my best friend. She wasnt poster-pretty. She was something far better: She was human.When Fu Yuanhui heard shed come in third at the 100-meter backstroke finals at the Rio Olympics, she gasped for air, stuttered and then mangled her lanyard from the sheer joy of winning. Her bubbling, over-the-top delight with life was infectious. In the photographs, while other athletes posed for the camera, smiles frozen in place, she clutched her medal mouth open in a silent roar of happiness. She made faces, grinned maniacally.The moment I truly fell for her was during the womens 4x100-meter medley relay when she emerged from the pool doubled over in pain. Her period left her feeling weak, she told the reporter, and she didnt swim her best. Then, she apologized for her performance and moved on.Never mind the cultural taboo that exists around periods, particularly in China, where tampons are hard to come by. Never mind the cultural taboos about periods that exist around the world. Fu Yuanhui swam in pain; she felt like she underperformed; she apologized; and that was all simply all there was to it.Fu Yuanhui didnt give us pretty, she gave us joy so fierce you could feel its power blasting through the camera lens. She didnt give us pitch-perfect celebrity-speak molded to showcase her best self to the press. She gave us herself, her incandescent happiness, her earthly pain.She showed us its possible to be loved by the world for simply being yourself. And for this, we loved her, for this we continue to love her: Fu Yuanhui, champion swimmer, champion human.Shalene Gupta is currently working on a novel about growing up Chinese-Indian in Minnesota. A former Fortune reporter, with an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School, she is currently a freelance writer living in Boston. Follow her @ShaleneGupta Cheap NBA Jerseys Authentic . Breaking three of his own world records on his way to winning in Paris, Chan silenced the critics and left the audiences standing in appreciation and awe. Clearance NBA Jerseys . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. https://www.nbachinajerseys.us/ . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Stitched NBA Jerseys . -- Charlie Graham stopped 67 shots as the Belleville Bulls edged the visiting Guelph Storm 6-5 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Wholesale NBA Jerseys . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. At just 21, PV Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics, capping a meteoric rise for the Hyderabad girl. She now hopes to end the year on a high with a win at the China Open and hopefully qualify for the year-ending Super Series final.ESPN runs you through a brief timeline of the young stars career:Early years Born on July 5, 1995 in Hyderabad, Sindhu began playing badminton at the age of eight, with her inspiration being Pullela Gopichand, whose academy she later joined. Sindhu showed promise and was soon winning titles in the under-10 and under-13 age categories, with the cherry being a gold in the under-14 category of the 51st national school games.2012: A special win After taking gold at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, Sindhus only title of 2012 was gold in the 2012 Asian Junior Championships. However, the year was special for a different reason. In the China Masters Super Series that year, she beat 2012 London Olympics Gold medallist Li Xuerui of China, beating her 21-19, 9-21, 21-16.2013: Young, but maturePV Sindhu, still in her teens, won her first Grand Prix gold at the 2013 Malaysian Open, beating Singapores Juan Gu 21-17, 17-21, 21-19. She then became Indias first medallist in womens singles at the Badminton World Championships when she beat Chinas Wang Shixian 21-18, 21-17 to win bronze. She capped that with a win at the Macau Open Grand Prix in December 2013, beating Canadian Michelle Li.ddddddddddddFor her achievements, she was awarded the Arjuna Award.2014: History at Worlds She then became the first Indian to win back-to-back medals at the World Badminton Championships, when she won bronze. In addition to that, she won bronze at the Uber Cup, the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Asia Championships.2015: Xuerui revenge Sindhu reached her first Super Series final, losing to Li Xuerui 19-21, 12-21 in the final. She made up for that disappointment a month later, winning her third successive Macau Open.2016: The big one Sindhu began the year with a bang, winning the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix, adding to her title in the same competition from 2013. However, the biggest achievement of the year came at the Rio Olympics in Brazil, when she won silver after losing in the womens singles final to Spains Carolina Marin. The silver meant she became the youngest and the first woman to win a womens singles Olympic medal from India, and it was only the second time any Indian badminton player finished in the top three at the Olympics. She won her maiden Super Series title defeating Chinas Sun Yu 21-11, 17-21, 21-11 in the final of the China Open at Fuzhou. ' ' '