The Making of Teenage Olympic Gold Medalist and Commercial
理财鱼小提示：The Making of Teenage Olympic Gold Medalist and Commercial Star Eileen Gu
Image Source: Visual China
Teenage freeski athlete Eileen Gu won a gold medal in the women’s big air event on February 8, 2022, which was China’s third gold and her first medal in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. She bagged the gold with a 1620 and a perfect landing, accumulating a total score of 188.25, narrowly beating fierce competitor France's Tess Ledeux, who took silver with a score of 187.50.
As Gu teared up at the spot for completing a move she had never done before, Chinese fans crashed the Internet when they celebrated Gu’s victory on social media with pride.
Later, Gu was bombarded by loads of questions from reporters around the world during a press conference after the competition, gaining massive exposure.
“She’s just so popular. It seems everyone loves Eileen Gu,” a reporter said.
When asked about the pressure to compete in three categories in the Winter Olympic Games, Gu simply smiled and said the three categories actually reduce the pressure on her because they give her three attempts to realize her goal.
Gu’s victory at women’s big air came as a surprise because the category is not her biggest strength. Women’s Slopestyle and Women’s Halfpipe that were originally scheduled for February 14 and 18 are actually her strongest categories.
The qualifying round in the women's freeski slopestyle was postponed due to heavy snowfall.
Gu still has the opportunity to break records at the Beijing Winter Olympics as there are two gold medals that might fall into her pocket. Along with her success on the winter sports field, Gu is also gaining massive commercial value as a rising star in the sports industry, especially in China.
Who is Eileen Gu?
Eileen Gu was born to an American father and a Chinese mother in San Francisco in September Eillen’s mother Gu Yan graduated from China’s top academic institution Peking University, where she was a ski coach. Gu Yan later studied at Stanford University and graduated with a master’s in business administration.
When Gu was three years old, she got the opportunity to try out skiing for the first time at the Northstar California Resort in California, where her mother worked as a part-time ski coach. She quickly fell in love with skiing. “The coach was teaching a bunch of kids,” Gu recalled trying to ski for the first time. “I quickly learned the basics and how to make turns. I was able to ski across forests the next winter.”
Gu’s grandmother taught her piano, which also helped her master the arts of skiing even better. Gu would imagine every skiing move as a piece of music as she moves with rhythm. “Cork 900 has a move that goes like ‘da-dada’, while Cork 1260 as a move that sounds like ‘dadada-dada’,” Gu explained.
It is apparent that Gu inherited a knack for sports from her mother. At the age of eight, Gu joined a professional ski team. When she was nine, she won the champion of a national skiing competition for the youth. Gu had already won 50 gold medals at the age of 14, including nine gold medals from national competitions in the United States. At 15, Gu got her first world champion title in the women’s category in Italy.
Gu is also talented in school. She completed American high school courses one year earlier in 2020 as the Winter Olympics neared. Gu scored 1580 out of 1600 in SAT and was admitted to Stanford University.
Gu’s mother would take her daughter to study International Mathematical Olympiad in Beijing every summer. “Studying in China for ten days pretty much equals studying in the United States for a year,” Gu Yan said. Her daughter’s incredible success in school proved her point.
Gu’s bond with China started to grow as she tried out Chinese food and learned about Chinese culture when she was in Beijing.
In June 2019, Gu, who was just 15 years old at that time, made a life-changing announcement for herself on social media – she has acquired Chinese citizenship. Before the announcement, the United States national team tried to recruit her to represent the United States.
Gu’s citizenship status on the website of the International Ski Federation is now Chinese.
“I speak fluent mandarin and I have a strong connection with Beijing. I am a Haidian kid who grew up watching Ne Zha,” Gu said, explaining her decision.
Image: Gu and her mother
After her decision to compete for China, Gu soon reaped great achievements for China in winter sports.
Gu won gold in the halfpie category and slopestyle category in Canada in 2020. She later won first place in both Big Air and Halfpie in the United States in December 2021.
In 2021, Gu won six top-notch competitions in only 26 days, becoming a rising star in the sports industry. Gu has secured 12 gold medals for China in the past two years.
Gu’s success is a combination of talent and hard work.
In 2016, she broke her clavicle during training. It took her seven weeks to recover from the injury and resume training.
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