It helps to read the actual article. The author is obviously using that term because her parents call her that. If the author were saying it out of the blue simply because she was Asian then sure it could be considered offensive but that is not what is going on here.
Those four years she waited, she and her father, Jong, believe were necessary to allow her to become old enough and strong enough to handle all that comes with Olympic competition. He and Chloe's mom, Boran, call their daughter "Ipugi," a hybrid Korean word they say means "baby girl dragon." Chloe was born in the year of the dragon, or the "imgui." According to Korean myth, a dragon is born a snake, waits 1,000 years then, on a stormy day, goes up into the sky and becomes a full-fledged dragon.