Eileen Gu

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Eileen Gu
File:2020-01-18 Eileen Gu at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Women's Freeski Slopestyle – Mascot Ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 18 (cropped).jpg
Gu at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympics
Personal information
Native name 谷爱凌 (Gǔ Àilíng)
Full name Eileen Feng Gu[1][2]
Born (2003-09-03) September 3, 2003 (age 20)[3]
San Francisco, CA[4]
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)[5]
Sport
Country China China
United States USA
Sport Freestyle skiing
Event(s)
Club Beijing Nanshan Ski Resort[6] (since 2015)[7]
Medal record
Women's freestyle skiing
Representing  China
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 1 0
World Championships 2 0 1
Winter X Games 2 0 1
Winter Youth Olympics 2 1 0
Total 8 2 2
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Beijing Big air
Gold medal – first place 2022 Beijing Halfpipe
Silver medal – second place 2022 Beijing Slopestyle
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2021 Aspen Halfpipe
Gold medal – first place 2021 Aspen Slopestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Aspen Big air
Winter X Games
Gold medal – first place 2021 Aspen Superpipe
Gold medal – first place 2021 Aspen Slopestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Aspen Big air
Winter Youth Olympics
Gold medal – first place 2020 Lausanne Big air
Gold medal – first place 2020 Lausanne Halfpipe
Silver medal – second place 2020 Lausanne Slopestyle
Ailing Eileen Gu
Simplified Chinese 谷爱凌
Traditional Chinese 谷愛凌

Eileen Feng Gu (born September 3, 2003), also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing (Chinese: {{{1}}}), is an American-born Olympic gold medalist freestyle skier and model. She has competed for China in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events since 2019.

At age 18, Gu became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing after winning gold medals in big air and halfpipe and a silver medal in slopestyle at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She is the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Winter Olympics. Owing to geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, her decision to switch from Team USA to China[8] drew international attention.

Time magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world under 'Pioneers' category on its annual list in 2022.[9]

Early life and education

Gu was born on September 3, 2003, in San Francisco, California, United States,[3] to a Chinese first-generation immigrant mother, Yan Gu (Chinese: 谷燕; pinyin: Gǔ Yàn), and an American father. Her father has been referred to as a Harvard University graduate; Gu has declined to comment about him.[10] Her mother gave birth to Gu at the age of 40[11] and raised her as a single parent.[7] A member of the short-track speed skating team and a ski coach, her mother attended Peking University in the 1980s[12] for her undergraduate and master's degrees in chemical engineering.[13] She emigrated to the United States as a student in her twenties, enrolling at Auburn University and Rockefeller University. To pursue an MBA at Stanford University, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she enrolled Gu in ski lessons at Lake Tahoe and thereby, according to Gu, "accidentally created a pro skier."[14] Yan had a career working for U.S. investment banks and as a venture capitalist between China and California.[15]

Gu grew up in San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood.[12] She attended private K-8 Katherine Delmar Burke School and later San Francisco University High School. Every summer, Gu would fly to Beijing to attend cram school for mathematics.[16] She scored 1580 out of 1600 on her SAT.[10] In 2021, Gu graduated early from high school. She earned early admittance to Stanford University, her mother's alma mater, in December 2020,[17] and will begin her studies in the fall of 2022.[18][14][17]

Nationality and citizenship

Gu competed for the United States at the 2018–19 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup. She has competed for China since June 2019 after requesting a change of nation with the International Ski Federation.[3][19][20][21] Her goal was to compete for China in the 2022 Winter Olympics.[21][22][23] She announced the change on Instagram, stating that through skiing she hopes "to help inspire millions of young people" in China and "to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations."[21][22]

Gu has declined to disclose her nationality. Gu was born a U.S. national, and Chinese nationality law does not recognize dual nationality.[24][25] The Chinese Consulate General in New York told the BBC that Gu would have to have been naturalized or gained permanent residency status in China to compete for its team,[24] though only naturalization, not permanent residency, would confer nationality and a passport as required by the sport governing bodies.[26][27] The International Olympic Committee confirmed that the Chinese Olympic Committee had presented it with a copy of her Chinese passport as proof of Chinese nationality acquired via naturalization in 2019.[28] There is no evidence that she has given up U.S. nationality[29] and some evidence that she has not.[30] Gu referred to herself as American in an interview in May 2022.[31] In other interviews, Gu has said, "Nobody can deny I'm American, nobody can deny I'm Chinese,"[32] and "When I'm in the U.S., I'm American, but when I'm in China, I'm Chinese."[33][34]

Sports career

File:2020-01-20 Freestyle skiing at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Women's Halfpipe – Qualification – 2nd run (Martin Rulsch) 027.jpg
Her second run in the Women's Freeski Halfpipe Qualification at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics
File:Gu Ailing Eileen on her first run at Women's Freeski Big Air Qualification (20220207093705).jpg
Her first run at Women's Freeski Big Air Qualification, 2022 Olympics

In 2021, Gu became the first woman to land a forward double cork 1440 in competition history.[35]

Training

  • Wy’East Mountain Academy - a training facility for Olympic skiers such as Nick Goepper and Alex Beaulieu.[36] According to Mike Hanley, head of school at Wy’East Mountain Academy, Gu's mother paid for the coaching and travel, "These sports are very expensive. So many of the Americans ask for favors. Yan was willing to pay, which is very rare in the action sports industry. She paid for coaching and travel.”[36]
  • Woodward Tahoe - a 33,000 square foot Indoor Action Sports Hub training next generation athletes in snowboard, freeski, skateboard, BMX, freestyle MTB, and cheer.
  • Jamie Melton, Head coach of the Chinese National Slopestyle and Big Air Training Team, Former Action Sports Coach at Woodward Tahoe. Melton has coached Gu since she was 10 years old.
  • Brad Prosser, New Zealand coach[37] - Prosser met Gu when she was around 11 years old. In 2018, he became the technical coach guide to the Chinese national team.
  • Misra Noto Torniainen - Gu's personal coach for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the former coach of the Swiss freeski team.[38] Torniainen had coached Olympic medalists Sarah Höfflin and Mathilde Gremaud for the 2018 Winter Olympics.[39][40]

X Games

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See also: X Games

At the 2021 Winter X Games, Gu won a bronze medal in Big Air and two gold medals in SuperPipe and Slopestyle, becoming the first rookie to win a gold medal in Women's Ski SuperPipe, the first rookie to medal in three events, and the first athlete representing China to win a gold medal at the X Games.[41][42][43]

World Championships

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See also: FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships

Gu competed at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2021, winning two gold medals in Freeski Halfpipe and Freeski Slopestyle and a bronze medal in Freeski Big Air. Gu became the first freeskier to win two golds at the FIS Freeski World Championship.[44][45] She competed without poles for the first time due to a broken hand, having fractured a finger and tearing the UCL in her thumb.[46][47][48]

2022 Winter Olympics

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See also: 2022 Winter Olympics

At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Gu became the youngest gold medalist in freestyle skiing, winning the big air event, the first to be held at the Olympics.[49] Gu landed a double cork 1620, her first attempt in competition.[50] She was the second woman to land the trick and the first woman to land a left-turn 1620;[51] Tess Ledeux first successfully completed a double cork 1620 on 21 January 2022 at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado [52] and landed it again in her first run of the big air final at the 2022 Winter Olympics.[53][54]

Gu won the silver medal in the slopestyle event.[55] She won a second gold medal in the women's freeski halfpipe competition, becoming the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a Winter Olympics.[56][57] She was awarded the Best Breakthrough Athlete and Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Awards at the 2022 ESPY Awards.[58]

World Cup results

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See also: FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup

Gu ended the 2021-2022 World Cup season with a perfect record in women's halfpipe, taking her first career crystal globe and becoming the first freestyle skier to win four consecutive World Cup competitions.[59][60][61] She claimed her second crystal globe in the same season, placing first in Park & Pipe overall.[62]

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.[63]

Representing Season Date Location Discipline Place
United States United States 2018–2019 January 12, 2019 France Font Romeu, France Slopestyle 2nd
January 27, 2019 Italy Seiser Alm, Italy Slopestyle 1st
China China 2019–2020 September 7, 2019 New Zealand Cardrona, New Zealand Halfpipe 2nd
February 14, 2020 Canada Calgary, Canada Halfpipe 1st
February 15, 2020 Canada Calgary, Canada Slopestyle 1st
2020–2021 November 21, 2020 Austria Stubai, Austria Slopestyle 3rd
2021–2022 December 4, 2021 United States Steamboat, United States Big Air 1st
December 10, 2021 United States Copper Mountain, United States Halfpipe 1st
December 30, 2021 Canada Calgary, Canada Halfpipe 1st
January 1, 2022 Canada Calgary, Canada Halfpipe 1st
January 8, 2022 United States Mammoth Mountain, United States Halfpipe 1st
January 9, 2022 United States Mammoth Mountain, United States Slopestyle 2nd

Results current through 1 February 2022.

Endorsements and modeling career

Even before the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Gu was the face of multiple brands in China.[64] Gu fronts at least 23 brands in China across sports, fashion, and banking.[64] According to marketing expert Jerome Lau, "Gu can be perceived as a bridge for brands to resonate with the consumers in the China market."[64] Gu's status as a leading sports star in China is reported to have earned her over US$30 million in endorsements and advertising contracts.[64][56][65][66] According to media reports, her average fee per endorsement increased from $1 million in 2021 to $2 to $2.5 million in 2022.[64][67]

Gu is represented by IMG Models.[68][17] She has appeared on the covers of magazines such as the Chinese editions of Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Marie Claire, V, L'Officiel, and Vogue.[2][17][69] Gu has been featured in campaigns for Western luxury brands such as Fendi, Gucci,[17] IWC Schaffhausen,[70] Tiffany & Co., and Louis Vuitton; she is a brand ambassador for the latter three.[68][17][70] She is a founding member of Victoria's Secret's VS Collective[71][72] and a Red Bull sponsored athlete.[3]

Personal life

Gu was raised by her mother and maternal grandparents. Her grandfather was the chief electrical engineer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China.[10] She speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and English.[73][74] She plays the piano as a hobby.[68] In May 2022, Gu mentioned that she had recently converted to Buddhism.[75]

Social and political views

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Gu has spoken out against anti-Asian racism after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings and the killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee.[76] She has described her own experience with anti-Asian racism, having endured a man screaming obscenities about "Asians infecting America" with COVID-19 at her and her grandmother in a shop.[76][77] Gu also supports the Black Lives Matter movement.[73][78] Gu has largely declined to comment on social and political topics involving China, including the country's human rights record.[79][80] Gu's agent Tom Yaps told The Economist that Gu's mother, Yan Gu, feared that "if [Eileen] participates in an article that has two paragraphs critical of China and human rights, that would put her in jeopardy over there. One thing and a career is ruined."[76]

See also

References

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  74. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  76. ↑ 76.0 76.1 76.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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