Winter Olympics 2022 might be over, but the limelight on champion freestyle skier, Eileen Gu has yet to fade away. Apart from being an athlete, she is also a highly sought-after model, having signed to one of the most reputable modelling agencies in the world.
At the mere age of 18, the teenager has impressed the world with both her talent and amiable personality. If you’re only starting to follow Eileen Gu, read on for more facts about this Olympic champion.
Eileen Gu’s ethnicity became a hot topic, especially when viewers saw her bag home three medals during the Winter Olympics 2022. For those who didn’t know, the freestyle skier champion is part Chinese and part Caucasian, and speaks both Chinese and English. Her mother is from China, and her father is from the U.S.
According to a report by SCMP, Eileen Gu attended San Francisco University High School, a private school with an annual tuition fee of USD$54,000 (~S$73,100). She scored 1580 for her SATs, placing her in the 99th percentile of students in the U.S.
Not only was she the first student from her high school to graduate a year earlier than her peers, but she was also a candidate for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. Although ISPO reported that Eileen Gu eventually did not receive the scholarship, it still shows that her academic excellence was acknowledged. We stan a queen with both beauty and brains.
It’s no surprise that Eileen Gu was accepted to Stanford University, seeing how she aced the SATs with flying colours. Yet, her enrollment to the school was delayed to Autumn 2022 for a good reason ‒ the Winter Olympics 2022.
ICYMI, Eileen Gu took home 3 medals ‒ 2 golds and 1 silver ‒ making her the first freestyle skier to do so in a single Winter Olympics.
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It looks like intelligence runs in Eileen Gu’s genes, as it was reported by SCMP that her parents were also graduates of Ivy League schools.
Prior to moving to the U.S., her Chinese-born mother graduated from Peking University, majoring in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Later, she received her Master’s Degree from Auburn University, and furthered her studies at Rockefeller University and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Furthermore, her U.S.-born father was said to have attended Harvard University by The New York Times.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Eileen Gu has spent almost her entire life in the U.S, making it natural for her to represent the U.S. for competitions. While she did so for a period of time, her decision later to represent China at the Winter Olympics 2022 when she was 15 took many by surprise.
She explained on Instagram that it was a very difficult decision, but in doing so, hoped to inspire millions of young people where her mother was born, Beijing. Plus, she also wishes that through skiing, she will be able to “unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations.”
Acing in not just her athletic career, Eileen Gu is also a highly sought-after model represented by a renowned modelling agency, IMG Global.
She has modelled for many luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany and Co., and even graced the covers of fashion magazines like Vogue, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan. In China, she also received endorsements from major companies like JD.com, Bank of China, and China Mobile.
According to a report by CBNData, Eileen Gu earned an estimate of USD$31.4 million (~S$42.5 million) in 2021. This would have placed her just behind the earnings of tennis stars like Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, if she was included in the list of Forbes’ highest-paid female athletes in 2021.
Among Eileen Gu’s achievements, a highlight would be her placement on the list of China Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2020 when she was only 17. Such an accomplishment is no doubt impressive, and also a nod to the potential that she has.
Grateful for the mention, Eileen Gu mentioned on social media that she was beyond excited and humbled to be the youngest person to receive such an honour.
Eileen Gu is probably the kid that most Asian parents would want ‒ she is good at studying, sports, and even music. According to an article by Classic FM, the freestyler skier shared that she played the piano for 9 years.
As her number one fan, Eileen Gu’s mother has also uploaded videos of her playing the piano onto her YouTube channel.
Perhaps if Eileen Gu didn’t plan on pursuing a career as a freestyle skier, she would have also made it as a talented pianist.
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Eileen Gu credited her success to having 10 hours of sleep a night, and surprisingly, it wasn’t the answer that many expected. These days, it is not easy for anyone to have more than 8 hours of sleep, much less 10.
According to Vogue Singapore, the freestyle skier shared that her mother let her sleep up to 15 hours a day when she was still young. As she grew older, her sleeping hours were reduced to 13 hours, and later maintained at 10 hours a night.
Since sleeping helps to stimulate the growth of the body and brain, Eileen Gu emphasised that it provides her with the energy the next day. Now, you’d know what to say if your parents complain that you’re sleeping too long.
For the unacquainted, a double cork 1440 requires a skier to complete four full 360-degrees and two off-axis rotations in the air. Not only is the trick challenging, but it is also dangerous to perform, especially if things go south during the landing.
As expected of Eileen Gu, she succeeded in landing the trick in November 2021 during her training at the Stubai Glacier. You can even catch the video on her acing the landing on her Instagram post.
While Eileen Gu might appear to be “perfect”, she has had her fair share of struggles too. If not for an interview with The New York Times, not many would have known that she used to struggle with eating for a period of time.
When the pandemic first started, Eileen Gu was hooked onto diet videos on TikTok where she saw how little some girls ate. Although she didn’t have the desire to look like them, it made her reflect on her daily food intake. Thankfully, she managed to snap out of it in time, and realised that something was wrong.
Now, Eileen Gu is eating healthily thanks to a nutritionist whom she consults occasionally.
Before Eileen Gu decided to become a professional freestyle skier, she was a competitive cross-country runner for 7 years. While she enjoys both sports, she is glad that she went ahead with skiing.
Also shared in The New York Times, Eileen Gu runs because she enjoys it, and is currently doing so as a means of keeping fit.
No training for any athlete is ever easy, and the same goes for Eileen Gu during the Winter Olympics 2022. As shared in The New York Times, her training included skiing from 9am to 12pm, before going for a lunch break.
Also mentioned in Vogue Hong Kong, Eileen Gu added running to her training routine, on top of weight training at home when she was unable to meet her coach during the pandemic.
Seeing how she also had to juggle her studies and modelling career at the same time, Eileen Gu proves to be a disciplined and dedicated person that we can all look up to.
Sustaining injuries is probably inevitable when you lead the life of an athlete. In March 2021, Eileen Gu shared on Instagram that she was wearing a cast to protect her injured hand from further injuries before she received surgery after the ski season.
Sharing the severity of her injury in The New York Times, Eileen Gu actually broke the metacarpal on her pointer, and also tore the ligament on her thumb. Ouch.
Being an Olympic champion and an internationally recognised model, it is no surprise that Eileen Gu has more than 1.4 million followers on her Instagram. She usually shares photos and videos of her skiing, and also posts heartfelt messages to her mother and grandmother.
Besides Instagram, Eileen Gu also has a TikTok account with over 288,800 followers. Follow her and you’ll find adorable videos of her sharing about her dating life, and letting her grandmother rate her modelling photos.
Eileen Gu once dreamt of sharing her writing works with a large audience, and she managed to check it off her bucket list when she published an essay titled “Love and Fear” in The New York Times. The essay touches on her take on fear as an 18-year-old teenager.
According to the essay, she classifies fear into three sections ‒ excitement, uncertainty, and pressure ‒ fundamental to her success as a freestyle skier. Yet to Eileen Gu, it is also about seeking the balance among those three factors.
If you’re interested in reading the full essay, you can check it out here.
Despite her young age, Eileen Gu shows that she has the potential to achieve more in her career as a freestyle skier and model. Her achievements are inspiring, and hopefully, with time to come, she will continue to impress many and accomplish even greater things.
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