Eileen Gu has had an all-American childhood. Why is she skiing for China at the Beijing Olympics? 1843mag investigates
, and signed lucrative contracts with dozens of companies, including Adidas, Tiffany and Louis Vuitton. Gu’s commercial success owes a lot to her talent, beauty and daring. Many brands also hope to exploit her newfound popularity to reach a market of 1.4bn people. Gu’s mother may have been envisaging just such a windfall: weeks before her daughter’s change in allegiance she set up a new company in America, DreamComeGu.
All it takes is one thing. Just four months after Gu switched her allegiance to Team China, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, a basketball team, retweeted a message supporting civil-rights protesters in Hong Kong: “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong”. China’s furious reaction to a single retweet from a foreigner halfway round the world cost the National Basketball Association hundreds of millions of dollars:stores removed all Rockets merchandise.
China, unlike America, does not recognise dual nationality after the age of 18. Under Chinese law, Gu would have had to give up her American passport by her 18th birthday, which fell last September 3rd. So far, Gu has avoided addressing questions about her citizenship. If she has not relinquished her American passport, is that a rare concession from the Chinese government or an act of passive resistance from Gu? We may never know.
When Eileen was born, Gu Yan had a new mission. In China, many parents funnel their children into an activity and then force them to study or practice until they burn out. Gu Yan later told a Chinese documentary that she wanted to stoke Gu’s passions. Schoolwork was important but Gu Yan also introduced her daughter to running and horseback riding, soccer and surfing, singing – and skiing. Along the way, Gu Yan tried to build up her daughter’s toughness, discipline and self-confidence.
In the summer of 2015, Gu and her mother gathered with friends in Beijing to watch a live broadcast of thechairman Thomas Bach finished the word “Bei…,” the group erupted in cheers. “I was super excited,” said Gu, “but my mom was even more excited. She even cried.” Gu was only 11. Yet even then, the hope in the room was that Captain America would compete in Beijing seven years later – wearing a Chinese uniform.
The apparent concussion forced Gu to pull out of a World Cup event two days later. Still, her question echoes. Less than a month before, in Austria, Gu had shared a Thanksgiving dinner with her new teammates on the American freestyle ski team. A month later, she would sing the American national anthem in Italy after winning her first World Cup gold medal – before reappearing days later in a Chinese uniform with Xi Jinping.
Gu’s English-language announcement on Instagram was more calibrated. “This was an incredibly tough decision for me to make,” she wrote. “I am proud of my heritage, and equally proud of my American upbringings.” The Beijing Olympics offered “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to promote the sport I love”, she explained, “to help inspire millions of young people where my mom was born.” Her decision, she suggested, went beyond sports or business; it was an act of diplomacy in a troubled world.
Like any engaged American teenager, Gu also began speaking out on social issues. Her political awakening seemed to come during the Black Lives Matter protests that followed George Floyd’s death in May 2020 at the hands of a white police officer. That summer, the 16-year-old blacked out her Instagram screen in solidarity with the movement. Raising awareness is “not enough”, she wrote.
It has been far from a normal childhood. In September, she celebrated her 18th birthday week on three continents: at a photo shoot in Beijing, on a billionaire’s mega-yacht in Dubai and on the glacier where she trains in the Austrian Alps. A few days later, she broke off her training to fly to the Met Gala in New York as one of the new faces of Victoria’s Secret.
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