Eileen Gu is a Chinese-American athlete and luxury fashion model known for dominating international freeskiing competitions. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and freeskiing world champion. In February 2022, at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, she became the first freestyle skier to win three medals in a single competition.
Wiki/Biography
Erin Gu was born on Wednesday, September 3, 2003, in San Francisco, California, United States (18 years old as of 2021). Her zodiac sign is Virgo. She finished high school a year early from San Francisco University High School and applied for a U.S. Presidential Scholars Program scholarship but was unsuccessful. Her SAT score was 1580 and her admission to Stanford University was deferred due to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She grew up in San Francisco’s exclusive Sea Cliff neighborhood, in a house with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge that she shared with her mother and grandmother. She often visits her mother’s native Beijing, China, during the summer.
Country of Citizenship
Erin was born and raised in San Francisco, California, and returns to her mother’s native China every summer. She represented the United States in international slopestyle ski competitions during the 2018-19 season. She has reportedly become a naturalized Chinese citizen, which she addressed in an Instagram post where she mentioned that she will represent China in an upcoming international competition.
Gu Ailin’s Instagram post
However, she never officially renounced her U.S. citizenship and deferred her admission to Stanford University until the summer of 2022, while China does not offer dual citizenship options for its citizens. This caused a lot of confusion and heated discussion in the American and Chinese media. When asked multiple times about her nationality, Erin remained silent about it and concealed it with diplomatic statements, such as that she was Chinese when in China and American when in the United States. The nationality topic brought her both positive and negative publicity. She has gained a huge fan base in China, where people are proud of her for being true to her race, while on the other hand, American citizens are filled with hatred for her for neglecting her country of birth. Fox News called her an “ungrateful American child.”
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′6″
Weight (approximately): 50kg
Hair color: brown
Eye color: brown
Body measurements (approximately): 30-26-32
family
parents
There is very little information about her father other than the fact that he is an American and a Harvard University graduate. Her mother, Gu Yan, is the daughter of the former chief electrical engineer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China. She immigrated to the United States in the 1980s after studying chemistry and biochemistry at Peking University. She earned a master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Auburn University and continued her education at Rockefeller University in New York and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is a ski instructor at a resort near Lake Tahoe, and it was her dream that led her to let her daughter Erin receive ski training when she was 9 years old.
Gu Ailing takes a photo with her mother Gu Yan
grandparents
Her grandmother is Feng Guozhen, who lives with Aileen and her mother Yan Gu.
A photo of Gu Ailing and her grandma
Profession
as an athlete
When Eileen was 3 years old, her mother took her skiing for the first time. She started skiing when she was 9 when her mother signed her up for ski lessons in Lake Tahoe. She represented the United States in international freeskiing events in January 2019. She finished second in slopestyle in France and first in Italy. In June 2019, she announced via Instagram that she would represent the Chinese team in the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics. At the 2020 Lausanne Winter Olympics, she won 2 gold medals. Won gold medals in large aerials and halfpipe events, and silver medals in freeski slopestyle events. In 2021, she became the first woman to win 3 medals in her debut at the Aspen Winter X Games, winning 2 in the Super Pipe and Slopestyle events and 1 in the Giant Air event Bronze medal, making her the first-time Chinese champion at the Winter X Games.
Eileen Gu wears three medals at XGames
She once again set a record by becoming the only athlete to win 2 gold medals at the 2021 FIS Freeski and Snowboard World Championships in Aspen. She won gold medals in halfpipe and slopestyle and bronze in Big Air.
In January 2022, she once again showed her talents at the International Ski Federation Freestyle Skiing World Cup held in Mammoth Mountain, USA. She remained undefeated throughout the season and won all 4 games in the women’s halfpipe event. She also finished second in the women’s freeski slopestyle competition this season.
Gu Ailin wins halfpipe world championship
Erin becomes the poster girl for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She won a gold medal in the women’s freeski giant air competition.
Gu Ailin wins gold medal at 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
During the competition, she completed a right double of 1,440 in the first round, which included four spins. She then performed a stunning left double jump of 1620 that she had never practiced. This is the largest and highest-scoring trick, requiring four and a half spins in the air and two off-axis spins.
In this multi-photo composite, Gu Ailin, representing China, completes 1,440 meters for the first time in the women’s freeskiing major aerial competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
She was delighted after winning a silver medal in slopestyle at the 2022 Winter Olympics. she says,
The most important thing is to be able to go to the Olympics and get a silver medal after a gold medal, you know, it’s an absolute dream come true and to be able to represent the sport, represent women’s skiing at such a big competition. Platform has always been my biggest goal. “
Eileen Gu wins silver medal in slopestyle at 2022 Winter Olympics
On February 18, Aileen made history by winning her third medal, a gold medal, at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics; she won the medal in the halfpipe final at Zhangjiakou Yunding Ski Resort. Regarding this achievement, Mr. Gu said happily:
It’s like it all comes together and takes shape year after year, like a deep breath. I feel exhausted. I mean, gosh, I’ve been skiing every day from the opening to now, so I’m really tired, but I feel peaceful. I feel so grateful. I feel passionate and I feel proud. “
Gu Ailin shows off the three medals she won at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
as a model
Erin is a professional model for IMG Models, which represents popular international models such as Bella Hadid, Kate Moss and Hailey Bieber. She is a well-known model both in the United States and in China. She has been the face of major brands including Louis Vuitton, Victoria’s Secret and Tiffany & Co., Swiss luxury watchmaker IWC and cosmetics brand Estee Lauder.
Eileen Gu talks digital hoarding
She has appeared at various A-list fashion shows, including Paris Fashion Week, front row at Louis Vuitton and the Met Gala. She has become a very profitable model in China and has done TV commercials for Chinese billboards and even milk cartons (a spokesperson for Inner Mongolia’s Mengniu Dairy). She has also worked as a model for China Mobile, e-commerce giant JD.com, Bank of China and other brands. She has appeared on the covers of top fashion magazines such as GQ and Elle.
Gu Ailin appears on the cover of “ELLE” magazine
When she appeared on the cover of Vogue Hong Kong, she said:
The fashion world helps me balance my training. “
She added,
Just like skiing, modeling requires incredible expression and personality. It requires creativity, confidence and the ability to learn and adapt…The transition between modeling and skiing became a break and practice for each other, helping me ultimately feel more motivated in each area. “
dispute
Erin posted her Olympics lookbook on Instagram, and one fan commented that she was receiving preferential treatment from the Chinese government because Chinese citizens are not allowed to use Instagram (which is banned in the country). Erin answered a little too quickly that Chinese people can use VPNs (a method of bypassing the country’s Great Firewall by hiding the user’s location, which is illegal). Screenshots of the comments went viral on Weibo, China’s version of Instagram. However, the Chinese government took swift action and all posts have since turned to black screens instead of comments.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- 2020 Winter Olympics gold medals in big air platform and halfpipe
- Two gold medals in halfpipe and slopestyle at the International Ski Federation Freeskiing and Snowboarding World Championships (2021)
- Three medals on debut – Gold in Superpipe and Slopestyle and Bronze in Air Slalom at the Winter X Games (2021)
- 2022 Winter Olympics freeskiing big air gold medal
- 2022 Winter Olympics Women’s Freeski Slopestyle Silver Medal
- Considered the poster girl for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
salary
Before 2021, Erin received approximately US$1 million in endorsement fees, which increased to US$2.5 million after tax by the end of November 2021. She signed about 20 endorsements during the year and earned about $40 million.
Facts/Trivia
- According to Erin, she never skied more than 65 days a year until she graduated from San Francisco University High School.
- Before her impressive performance at the 2021 Winter X Games Aspen, she turned down an invitation to perform at the 2020 Aspen Winter X Games in order to complete her studies.
- Red Bull profiled her in a TV documentary, “Everyday Eileen,” which follows her journey during the 2020-2021 season. The series also follows the way she competed and won at the World Championships despite a broken finger and a torn ulnar collateral ligament.
- She is one of the most sponsored athletes at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and has established partnerships with more than 20 commercial partners.
- Although she was born and raised in the United States, she is very fluent in Mandarin and has a good understanding of Chinese culture and customs because she travels to the United States with her mother and grandmother every summer.
- After her performance in the qualifying round of this major air event, Irene showed reporters a black jacket she designed with a golden dragon on it, and told reporters in Mandarin that the dress she designed had Chinese elements.
- Aileen is known as Gu Ailing in China. She was nicknamed “Snow Princess” and “Frog Princess” after the green helmet she wore during competitions. She is also known as a weirdo, academic master, and genius girl in China.
- Erin’s life is based on duality, whether Chinese or American, athlete or fashion model, teenager or world champion. She wrote on Instagram,
I find myself tapping into this quality again and again as I present different aspects of myself in different contexts (athlete, model, student, Chinese, American, teenager, writer, public persona, etc.). Everyone’s code shifts, and I think it’s time we start celebrating that versatility. “
- She owns a red convertible Mustang.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education