Advertisement
Letters | One secret to Eileen Gu’s Winter Olympic success we can all take on board
- The teen gold medallist started training as a child, overcame barriers in a male-dominated sport, and has kept up other hobbies
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
Feel strongly about this letter, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification.
Freestyle skier Eileen Gu, a US-born teenager who chose to represent China in sporting competitions, is now a household name in the Chinese-speaking world, having won a gold medal in the freeski big air competition for the country at the Beijing Winter Olympics, its first on snow during these games. She landed a left double cork 1620 – four and a half rotations in the air, a trick she had never attempted before – on her way to gold. She is now a heavy favourite in the half-pipe event on February 17 and 18.
Gu began learning to ski when she was three, and by the time she was eight, she had begun doing flips, spins and slides. At the age of nine, she was champion at the USA Snowboard and Freeski Junior Association. Having racked up several wins, she went professional at the age of 16.
Advertisement
Gu has been a strong advocate of gender equality; when she was as young as 12, she gave a speech at her school encouraging girls to fight the gender pay gap. She noted that a male skiing champion would usually receive US$12,000 while a female champion would only get US$600.
She has also spoken of her struggles to fit into the male-dominated world of freestyle skiing: as a child, she found herself the only girl in a team of boys. Speaking after winning the gold medal, Gu said she hoped her win would “encourage more girls to break their own boundaries”.
Advertisement
She has also attributed her Winter Olympics triumph to nine years of playing the piano. There might not seem to be a relationship between skiing and playing the piano, but Gu said playing the instrument contributed to her sense of rhythm: “I think of all my tricks as a rhythm, and music. The wind in my ears, the speed in my turn as I spin, it speeds up. There’s a change in tempo.” She says she is preparing for her next competitions at the games by writing, composing and playing the piano, and that she has a small keyboard with her in her room.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x