Beijing girl sprinting towards Winter Olympic championship

In the early hours of January 31 Beijing time, at the 2021 X Games held in Aspen, Colorado, United States, Chinese contestant Eileen Gu’s steady performance brought her the gold medal in Women's Slopestyle. With a gold medal in U-Shaped Women's SuperPipe and bronze medal in Women's Big Air obtained the previous day, she received medals in all three programs that she entered, winning two gold and one bronze medals in total.

X Games is the most advanced and influential world event of extreme sports. It is divided into the summer and winter seasons, and participants are the world's top candidates in their programs. The fierce competition is no less than at the Olympic Games.

This year, Chinese athlete Eileen Gu was invited for the first time to take part in the competition. Nicknamed the "genius skiing girl", Gu became not only the first Chinese candidate to win gold medals in this competition, but also made history in Chinese skiing sports. Hence, her gold medals have tremendous value. Gu was born in 2003 in Los Angeles in the United States. In 2019, she officially represented Team China to enter international competitions.

As an emerging star in the skiing race course, Gu is now concentrated on one goal, which is the global stage of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Recently, in an interview with the International Olympic Committee's official website, she said: "I want to become a champion at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, which is indisputably the highest honor of this sports. It will also be the best reward for the efforts that I imputed into this sports."

During the interview, Gu was also extremely excited about representing China to participate in the Games: "The Winter Olympic Games is very significant to China. I feel quite lucky to have the chance to enter a stage like this, and have the opportunity to encourage girls and youths to take part in skiing."

Gu's mother, Gu Yan, is a Beijinger, and her father is American. Although she has not lived in China for long, every summer she comes back to Beijing. When she was interviewed by reporters recently, she stated: "I've never taken Chinese lessons. I don't have to learn Chinese, I knew it since I was born. From as long as I can remember, every year I would think of when I can come to Beijing, to play, and to eat delicious food. It is a part of my life."

Although Gu loved skiing since she was little, her hobbies are very broad, including cross country, running, horseback riding, rock climbing, basketball, and other sports. At the same time, she also excels in academic studies.

To prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Gu used one year to finish two years of high school courses, and was accepted by Stanford University with outstanding scores. Also in order to prepare for the Winter Olympic Games, Gu will postpone her studies at Stanford for one year.

Gu will only turn 18 by this September, and has already become a celebrity figure in the world sports circles. While the world has great expectations for her future achievements, to Gu, keeping a peaceful mind and being herself is also very important.

In this aspect, Gu seems to be inherently mature--rather than focusing on competition results, she wants to enjoy skiing and let more people feel the joy of skiing. "When I am 80-years-old and recalling my life, I think compared with the number of medals, I want to have the memory of girls telling me that they like skiing because of me. I believe that girls can also make a lot of stunners," Gu says to the reporter. "I have a lot of things in my life, but I think the most important thing is to enjoy the journey. Not many people have the opportunity to showcase themselves in a high standard world competition like this, I am extremely grateful that I have the chance."

"I love skiing, I love victory. The biggest goal of my career is to become a champion at the Winter Olympic Games."

Contributed by: Wang Dong, reporter of Guangming Daily

Translated by Zhang Junye