Carrying Two Flags? How Social Media Users Perceive the Identity Negotiation Process of Third Culture Athletes

This study introduces the concept of "Third Culture Athletes" (TCAs) and explores how their identity negotiation processes are perceived on Chinese social media, focusing on how social media users shape perceptions of these athletes' identities. Through critical discourse analysis of 3327 comments about Eileen Gu and 1181 comments about Tomokazu Harimoto on Zhihu, the research identifies four stages of perceived identity negotiation: anchoring, catalysis, renegotiation, and dynamic equilibrium. The findings indicate that while social media platforms carry the discourse of globalism, they also amplify the polarization of nationalist opinions. This research offers new insights into cross-cultural identity negotiation theory and provides practical implications for athletes, sports organizations, and social media platforms in managing multicultural identities.