WITH the world hailing the arrival of a new sports superstar, China’s freeski Olympic champion Gu Ailing wants to remain the girl next door to inspire more youngsters to push their own boundaries.

Carrying the host nation’s biggest medal hope on the snow, Gu, a versatile skier competing in three events at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, delivered big time Tuesday.

With International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach’s applause and the cheering of flag-waving audience, the 18-year-old, with hands on her head and a look of great excitement, captured the gold medal of the women’s freeski big air final at the Games.

The win is a historic achievement for the host country as Gu is China’s first women’s Olympic gold medalist on snow sports.

Gu’s performance was steady and faultless in her first two runs, giving her a good score.

On her final run, which made Chinese spectators breathless, Gu nailed a double cork 1620, with unprecedented difficulty, to take over first spot, surpassing Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland who finished third and Tess Ledeux of France who got the silver.

With a combined score of 188.25 points – 93.75 from her first run and 94.50 from the third – Gu came back strong from third place before the final run to take the gold as the event made its Olympic debut.

“I’ve thought about it a lot, but to put it down [left double cork 1620 jump] for the first time on my third run in the first Olympic freeski [big air] final in history means the world to me,” Gu said after her victory.

“My mom called me asking me to play [it] safe before the third run as I’d secured a medal. But I didn’t listen to her and gave it a go, not trying to beat anyone but to elevate myself to the next level.”

“It was a breathtaking competition to see this level of performance,” said Bach, who witnessed the historic moment. “I can’t imagine what must have gone into her head before doing it.”

After her golden start, Gu, a two-time world champion, will contest the halfpipe and slopestyle events in the co-host city, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, starting Sunday.

If she succeeds in her multi-event campaign, she will be recognized as the most versatile freestyle skier at a Winter Olympics and drive China’s burgeoning winter sports market.

Many observers have noticed that besides the almost invincible table tennis team, China hasn’t seen a super star in sports for a long time since swimmer Sun Yang’s suspension. And that’s why Chinese sprinter Su Bingtain’s record of 9.83 seconds in the 100-meter run made him the talk of the town, even though he didn’t finish on the podium at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.

The new icon is Gu. Amid the festive atmosphere of the Chinese Lunar New Year season, topics on Gu’s gold medal exploded like fireworks as the prodigy, on the day she snatched the gold medal, occupied about 30 of the top 50 topics on the trending list, even including discussions on her grandmother’s birthplace and her habit of 10-hour sleep.

Gu’s gold medal inspired Chinese netizens on Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter, in which discussions about her exploded with over 670 million views and millions of comments about an hour after her historic victory.

Aside from being born in the U.S. to an American father, Gu is like most other new-era Chinese teens: They love to post selfies on social media platforms; they like fancy food, travel and fashionable outfits. The prodigy was admitted to Stanford University with a near-perfect SAT score in the run-up to the Winter Olympics.

Some netizens said she is the masterpiece combination of Eastern and Western education, some said she is a perfect image that could not even be designed in a movie, while some others said she is so close to our lives that both her excellence and imperfection seem very real.

“Every time I see her on TV, she’s smiling and confident and optimistic, which is really inspiring,” said a Weibo user.

“Everyone loves Gu Ailing… She has a kind of affinity to peers… She said that she loves to sleep, and she doesn’t like to clean her room, and this kind of attitude about imperfection resonated with us,” a fan of Gu, surnamed Yang, said.

The harvest of medals and applause has been reflected in Gu’s commercial value. According to media statistics, in 2021, she signed up with about 30 domestic and foreign brands, and she stands to earn over 100 million yuan (US$15.7 million).

On July 19, 2013, a girl who was coming to 10 signed up on Weibo, with the nickname “frog princess Gu Ailing,” and she has posted some pictures of her skiing competitions.

The nickname came from Gu’s first helmet when she started skiing, which was green and had a crown and a pink hair pin on it, according to media reports.

Gu first went into public view June 6, 2019, when she announced on Weibo that she would represent Team China in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. In the same month, Gu changed her registered nationality from the U.S. to China on the official website of the International Snow Federation (FIS).

She detailed the decision on her Instagram, citing the choice as an “incredibly tough decision.”

“I am proud of my heritage, and equally proud of my American upbringings,” Gu captioned the post. “The opportunity to help inspire millions of young people where my mom was born, during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help to promote the sport I love.

“Through skiing, I hope to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations. If I can help to inspire one young girl to break a boundary, my wishes will have come true.”

Due to the sensitivity on switching nationality and lack of attention on winter sports, Gu did not attract much enthusiasm in the first place.

Over the next two years, she won 12 gold medals for China. More and more people become familiar with Gu, a girl who loves to eat dumplings and Peking roast duck, especially when they found out that Gu’s Putonghua with a Beijing accent is “more standard than my own.”

And no one in China doubted her from a patriotic standpoint. Some have noticed that there’s a “Chinese dragon” on Gu’s outfit to win the gold medal.

The night before Gu won the gold, she fought back against U.S. Media Insider’s Instagram account, as the media fabricated that Chinese netizens are attacking figure skater Zhu Yi, who chose to represent China instead of the U.S., but failed to have a perfect Olympic debut.

“As someone who actually uses Chinese social platforms I’m going to say right here that over 90 percent of comments are positive and uplifting,” Gu said.

But some U.S. media outlets dropped their final hypocrisy and attacked Gu to defend the U.S.’ fragile dignity. CNN highlighted Gu is “undeniably American” while media like Fox said Gu was “ungrateful” and even “shameful” in exchange for money with a U.S. passport.

The choice of Chinese nationality reflects Gu’s belief that conditions in China are more conducive to personal development, as well as China’s progress, said Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University.

Gu was born in San Francisco, California, the United States, to an American father and a Chinese mother.

Her mother Gu Yan was also a skier who moved to the U.S. as a student in her 20s. She got her little daughter into skiing at a young age, taking her to Lake Tahoe for ski lessons. Gu’s mother wanted to bring Gu along with her to share her passion for the slopes.“Accidentally created a pro skier,” said the mother.

The Olympian graduated high school in two years, so her next step is college.

She has been accepted to her mother’s alma mater, Stanford University, and plans on attending classes in the fall of 2022. She is also a fashion model, already appearing on the cover of Elle and Vogue China, and an accomplished piano player.

(China Daily, Global Times)