Eileen Gu soars to Olympic gold as China embraces dual-culture star

With the pressure of more than a billion people on her shoulders, Eileen Gu soared and spun high into the Beijing sky before landing a stunning double cork 1620 to take Winter Olympics gold. Then, in another considerable feat of nimbleness, the 18-year-old deftly avoided attempts by the world’s media to drag her into a diplomatic incident with the skill of a UN veteran.

It amounted to the performance of these Games, on and off the snow. And across China it also led to an immediate outpouring of support and joy for Gu, who was born in the United States before controversially transferring her allegiance to China three years ago.

China Daily hailed Gu as a “hexagonal all-around warrior”, pointing out that she finished her high school course a year early, was admitted to Stanford University and is favoured by the fashion industry. Meanwhile the Chinese news agency Xinhua called her victory of “great significance” given it was the first by a Chinese woman in a snow event at the Winter Olympics.

There was also widespread praise for Gu on Chinese social media, with some noting approvingly that she had answered questions in fluent Mandarin with a Beijing accent absorbed from her mother. But to western ears, the way Gu navigated the trickiest geo-political questions without upsetting the Chinese government was remarkable.

Three times she was asked whether she had renounced her US citizenship to compete for China. Three times she adroitly sidestepped answering. “I feel just as American as I am Chinese,” she told reporters. “I grew up spending 25-30% of every year in China. Actually, the tower here I can see from my house in Beijing. My mission is to use sport as a force for unity.”

And when asked about the allegations regarding