Meet the US-born face of the Beijing Games

Eileen Gu was born in San Francisco, learnt to ski at Lake Tahoe, but she will compete for China at the Beijing Olympics.

US-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu is the woman to beat in the half-pipe

Eileen Gu was born in San Francisco, her prodigious skiing talent was first visible near Lake Tahoe, on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and one of her many endorsement deals is with the car manufacturer Cadillac, so long a symbol of the American dream. And yet when she arrived in Beijing for the Winter Olympics last week, she was given the rousing welcome of a home favourite.

The 18-year-old freestyle skier is the woman to beat in the half-pipe, with a strong chance of further medals in the big air and the slopestyle. Most significantly for those in Beijing, she will be competing for China, where her mother Yan was raised, and not the US, for whom she competed until she was 15. Gu will be the face of the Games.

On arrival in Beijing, she posted a picture of herself with a plate of dumplings on social media. “Dumplings of Beijing,” she wrote, “all finished.”

Tens of thousands of her 1.3 million followers on Chinese social media site Weibo rushed to offer good wishes. “Eat more, you will have more strength to ski,” one wrote.

There is little surprise that Gu is a darling of the Chinese people. Since announcing she would compete for China three years ago, she has won seven World Cup events, two golds in the Youth Winter Olympics at Lausanne in 2020 and four more between the World Championships — completed with a broken thumb — and the X Games, where she was the first Chinese victor.

In this year’s World Cup half-pipe standings, she has almost double the points of her nearest rival, Hanna Faulhaber of the US, having won all four events — at Calgary (twice), Mammoth Mountain and Copper Mountain.

During training last year, she became the first woman to land a double cork 1440, which is four horizontal spins and two vertical flips.

And there are more reasons to admire her. Gu scored 1580 out of a possible 1600 in her college admission exam and has a place to study at Stanford University. She has modelled for Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co, she has graced the cover of China’s Elle magazine and Hong Kong’s Vogue — and she speaks perfect Chinese with an endearing Beijing accent.

Above all, the Chinese claim her as one of their own and can bask in her achievements. “This is a perfect image,” business news site Huxiu wrote. “She represents the new breakthroughs in China’s snow events … she is the new face of Chinese athletes.”

But what has been overlooked, intentionally or not, is her US citizenship. China does not recognise dual citizenship for those who are over 18 and Gu is yet to confirm if she’s given up her US passport. There is no evidence that she has.

In China, local media and blogs run headlines praising her for giving up her US nationality, helping her to win the hearts of more Chinese people at a time of a bitter US-China rivalry. Gu has offered no clarification.

As early as 2019, the year she switched allegiances, the question about her citizenship was posed to her by a reporter from the South China Morning Post. “I feel that I am competing in skiing to unite two nations, both of which are my home,” Gu said. “I hope to break the divide between nations through passion and love.”

Last year she told the newspaper: “I’m fully American and look and speak the way I do. Nobody can deny I’m American. When I go to China, nobody can deny I’m Chinese because I’m fluent in the language and culture and completely identify as such.”

In a profile, Red Bull, one of her sponsors, claimed she had renounced her US citizenship, but recently removed the line after The Wall Street Journal inquired about its accuracy. China’s General Administration of Sports did not respond to a request for clarification by The Times.

Gu grew up in the US but has travelled to China for holidays. As her fame began to rise, she broke the news that she would compete for China.

“I am Gu Ailing, a girl who loves skiing,” she wrote on Weibo in June 2019, referring to herself by her Chinese name. “I am proud I will be able to represent China (and) to compete in the 2022 Beijing Winter Games in three years.”

On Instagram, which is blocked in China, Gu called it “an incredibly tough decision” but said that “the opportunity to help inspire millions of young people where my mom was born, during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help to promote the sport I love.

“Through skiing, I hope to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication and forge friendships between nations.”

Although she has spoken about racial discrimination in the US, especially against Asian-Americans, Gu has refrained from addressing China’s abysmal human rights record. Instead, she is a favourite of China’s state media, which fondly call her the “genius girl”.

“Confident, daring, highly gifted and exceptionally strong, this is what Gu Ailing is really like as a freestyle skier,” enthused The Paper, which is state-run.

Zhang Bin, a Chinese sports commentator, commended Gu for her political deftness. “She will not become a political ‘pawn’, but what she wants to do is to promote the growth of women’s sports and to encourage the next generation,” Zhang wrote.

She has seen her marketing value soar both in China and globally. Along with Cadillac and Red Bull, she has contracts with Luckin Coffee, Bank of China, Mengniu Dairy, Oakley, Beats by Dre, Victoria’s Secret and IWC.

This month she became a brand ambassador for JD.com, an online retail giant. Gu features in an advert for the company, in a traditional dress of qipao, which reads: “Together, with passion, advance to the future.”

The Times