Industry News
US-born Chinese freeskier Eileen Gu is on the 2022 TIME100 list after becoming the youngest freestyle ski champion in Beijing, where she won the gold medal in both big air and halfpipe, and silver in slopestyle.
The 18-year-old Olympic freestyle skiing champion who was born and raised in San Francisco, CA, chose to represent China in 2019 as her mother is from China.
“When I’m in China, I’m Chinese. When I’m in the US, I’m American.”
– Eileen Gu
View this post on Instagram
She said at the TIME100 Gala on Tuesday that she competed for China to inspire young girls there about the sport.
“I wanted to compete for China for the Olympics, that was to inspire young girls. It was to spread the sport for people who may have never heard of it before. Especially those young girls who may not have that kind of representation”.
– Eileen Gu
Gu also announced during the Gala that she will be an ambassador for the US in its bid to host the Winter Olympics in either 2030 or 2034 in Salt Lake City. The Games will be significant as they will feature an additional 15 countries.
“Now there’s this amazing opportunity to introduce 15 more countries at the Salt Lake City Olympics, so it all comes together and I wanted to be a part of it.”
– Eileen Gu
Gu will attend Stanford in the fall, as well as juggling modeling for Estée Lauder, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co, and being the face of Chinese businesses such as China Mobile, Anta, Bank of China, and JD. Also, Red Bull, Cadillac, Beats by Dre, and Victoria’s Secret in the US.
Send her back to China. She’ll probably just steal more of our technology.