Olympian Eileen Gu skis her way toward international superstardom
Eileen Gu is perhaps the most famous person you’ve never heard of, until now. The American-born freeskier is competing for Team China at the Winter Olympics, making millions of dollars and drawing criticism in the process.
Video Transcript
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- Meet Eileen Gu, the 18-year-old American-born skier taking the Beijing Olympics by storm. Off the slopes, Gu is bilingual. She plays the piano, and will start her freshman year at Stanford University in the fall. On the slopes, Gu wrote herself into the free ski record books in November of 2021 when she became the first woman to land the two flip and three rotations, double cork 1440 in competition.
Gu was born and raised in San Francisco, California. And at age 15 announced that she would be competing not for the United States, but for her mother's native country China. It's a decision she still finds herself defending three years later.
EILEEN GU: My mission is to use sport as a force for unity, to use it as a form to foster interconnection between countries and not use it as a divisive force.
- Sport is also a force for money, and lots of it. According to Yicai Global, a government-affiliated Chinese media outlet, Gu is partnered with at least 23 different brands in China. Market research firm CBM Data says those partnerships are worth a whopping $31.4 million in 2021 alone. And that's just in China. Gu is an international brand ambassador, a model, and a Where's Waldo of sorts popping up everywhere from the Louver to the Met Gala.
Gu scores style points wherever she goes, including the Winter Olympics. Gu won Olympic gold in Big Air and has more medal opportunities to come in slopestyle and half pipe. And if you don't like it, Gu says "that's on you."
EILEEN GU: So yeah, if people don't believe me, and if people don't like me, then that's their loss. They're never going to win the Olympics. Here's the thing. I'm not trying to keep anyone happy. I'm an 18-year-old girl out here living my best life.