“I’m an athlete, so I just do what I love and try to tell my own story,” freestyle skier Eileen Gu said. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — At 18 years old, Eileen Gu is already accomplished in a way few will ever be in their entire lifetimes. She is the world’s top female freestyle skier, the world champion in the halfpipe and slopestyle, third in big air, with an excellent chance to win gold in all three events at the Beijing Olympics.
She also is a professional model, represented by one of the most prestigious agencies. Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. have built campaigns around her. Last year, she graduated early from acclaimed San Francisco University High. In a few months, she will enroll at Stanford. She speaks both English and Mandarin and plays the piano. Her SAT score is reported to be 1580.
She could be America’s next big Olympic star … if only she wasn’t competing for China.
In June 2019, Gu, whose mother was born in China and whose father is from the United States, announced her intentions in an Instagram post. In the post, Gu, who was born and raised in San Francisco and did most of her ski training near Lake Tahoe, wrote that she hoped “to unite people, promote common understanding [and] create communication.”
Gu’s decision was met with elation in China, where she is now famous, celebrated in commercials, on bus stop advertisements and across the covers of Chinese versions of Vogue, Elle and InStyle. She has endorsement deals there with a list of firms that includes the Bank of China, China Mobile and milk company Mengniu.
“She’s going to be as big as Yao Ming was,” said Jeff Ruffolo, a former Olympic volleyball broadcaster and publicist who has spent the past two decades working for China’s sports events, referring to the country’s first NBA star. “These Olympics are going to be her NBA.”
(washingtonpost)
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