In February 2022, Eileen Gu won three medals at the Olympic Games, and the Chinese-American citizen and athlete has been using her platform to inspire millions of young people and change the face of skiing.
Gu has been competing under the Chinese flag since 2019, in the hopes of bringing awareness to the sport.
Today, at 18, she has become the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing. And at only 18 she has been making strides in promoting the sport in China and America, while also drawing bridges between the two cultures.
Who is Eileen Gu?
If you didn’t watch the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, you might not have seen Eileen Gu’s performance in freestyle skiing. These performances helped her win two gold medals and one silver. In 2019 she chose to compete under the Chinese flag due to geopolitical tensions at the time. Her mother is a Chinese immigrant and Gu chose to represent China.
In an Instagram post where she announced her decision she stated: ‘Through skiing, I hope to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations.’
Gu is part of the Red Bull family, a model that has been inspiring millions to take up winter sports. And if that didn’t make her cool enough, next autumn she will be attending Stanford University. This young lady is only at the start of a brilliant career.
Before Beijing
Beijing 2022 was Gu’s first Olympic Games. And on home soil. The 2022 Winter Games were not only about profit for the Chinese, there was more to hosting the event.
The Chinese were hopeful that the Games would have a lasting impact on the population, in a good way. They were hoping to inspire the Chinese people to take up winter sports. The Chinese wanted to get 300 million people on the snow and were hoping that the games would continue.
And that is something that Eileen Gu, or Gu Ailing as she is known in China, wanted to help bring about.
By competing for China she was hopeful that she could use the Games to bring awareness to Freestyle skiing and winter sports in general. She wanted to inspire and encourage young girls and teenagers everywhere.
In an interview before the games in 2021, she said that by skiing for China she hoped to ‘be able to introduce sport culture to China that I’ve learned in the US and to bring back aspects that I love about China and Chinese culture to the US is amazing, and sport can definitely act as a bridge.’
She had high hopes of winning a medal, and that’s what she did. She even won three.
After Beijing
Eileen Gu had made her goals for the games clear. And ever since winning her medals she has been raising awareness for skiing and winter sports, both in the US and China. These are not countries that are known for getting along, and the diplomatic boycotts proved that. However, Gu has worked tirelessly to bridge the gap between Chinese and American culture.
Recently, Gu was named as an ambassador for Salt Lake City’s 2030 or 2034 bid to host the winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and bring the Olympics back to America. Whilst some have criticised her for having different interests we can only applaud all the steps that she is taking to inspire millions. And it is how she has said it. She doesn’t only want to inspire one country or another. She wants to inspire millions around the world.
Very few athletes like Gu have used their nationality and their sport to bring such awareness to winter sports and encourage women and girls to take part in sports and winter sports. Even her fellow athletes have said that they push her to become better athletes.
Today Gu has become an ambassador for winter sports and freestyle skiing and she remains a committed sportswomen. Her future is bright.