Eileen Gu

Eileen Feng Gu (born 3 September 2003), also known as Gu Ailing (Chinese: 谷爱凌; pinyin: Gǔ Àilíng), is a Chinese-American freestyle skier in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events who has competed for China since 2019. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing, at age 18, capturing the gold medal in big air. She also has a career as a fashion model.

Early life and education

Gu was born in San Francisco, California, United States, on 3 September 2003 to an American father and a Chinese mother. Her mother, Gu Yan (Chinese: 谷燕; pinyin: Gǔ Yàn), moved to the U.S. from China as a student in her twenties, enrolling at Auburn University and Rockefeller University. While attending the latter, her mother skied for the first time at Hunter Mountain in New York state; her passion for the sport deepened after relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, while earning an MBA at Stanford University. While there, Gu's mother put her young daughter into ski lessons at Lake Tahoe, reportedly so that her daughter could keep up with her. Her mother, as Gu put it, "accidentally created [in me] a pro skier."

Gu wrote in her personal Sina Weibo page on 1 March 2021 that she had been recognized as a candidate for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, as a January 2021 nominee from San Francisco University High School; she was not ultimately awarded the scholarship, and graduated early from secondary school. The Washington Post reports that, after her sports and educational achievements (Including an SAT score of 1580), she secured admission into Stanford University, an alma mater of her mother, and will start studying after the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Career

Sports

Gu participated at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2021, winning two gold medals in Freeski Halfpipe and Freeski Slopestyle. Gu became the first freeskier to win two golds at the FIS Freeski World Championship. She also won a bronze medal in Freeski Big Air. She was also injured at the event with a broken hand.

In 2021, Gu became the first woman to land a forward double cork 1440.

2022 Beijing Olympics

In the 2022 Winter Olympics, Gu became the youngest ever gold medalist in freestyle skiing, winning the big air event. She landed her first ever attempt at a double cork 1620, the second woman to have ever made the move, after Tess Ledeux earlier in the same event.

World Cup results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

• 8 wins: 5 halfpipe, 2 slopestyle, 1 big air
• 12 podiums: 6 halfpipe, 5 slopestyle, 1 big air

Modeling

Gu also has a career as a fashion model, and is represented by the agency IMG Models. As of January 2022, she has participated in a number of campaigns, including for Fendi and Gucci, IWC Schaffhausen. and Tiffany and Louis Vuitton. Gu has had multiple magazine covers, including for Elle and Vogue China.

Nationality

Born in the United States to an American father and first-generation immigrant mother of Chinese origin, Eileen Gu has competed for China since June 2019 by requesting a change of nation with the International Ski Federation. Her goal was to compete for China in the 2022 Winter Olympics. In announcing the change, she said 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." In interviews, she has said, "Nobody can deny I'm American, nobody can deny I'm Chinese" and "When I'm in the U.S., I'm American, but when I'm in China, I'm Chinese."

Personal life

Gu spoke out about anti-Asian racism in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings and after an elderly Asian man in San Francisco died from a racist attack. 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. Gu also supports the Black Lives Matter movement. She has also been described as "a strong advocate of gender equality and representation of women in sports".

Gu was raised by her Chinese mother and grandmother, and thus can speak fluent Mandarin Chinese as well as English. As a hobby, she plays the piano.

In March 2021, Gu revealed that she had been receiving hostility over her decision to compete for China, including death threats and "endless hate" over social media since as young as 15 years old.