“My motto is to break your own barriers. That is my character “. This is how the skier Eileen Gu, who on Tuesday became the youngest athlete to win a gold medal for China, spoke to a crowded press room. in a Winter Olympics.
And he did it with a spectacular 1620 -a jump of four and a half rotations, the first he has attempted in his competitive career- on his third and final jump in the big air event (a ski discipline acrobatic).
It is the first event of the three in which Gu is expected to come out with a medal, according to the company Nielsen Gracenote data analysis.
But they are not your chances of her podium in Beijing that are generating the most heated discussions about her.
Born in San Francisco, Gu learned to ski on the pristine slopes of California’s Lake Tahoe. Now he represents China, not the United States, placing himself at the center of a global debate on geopolitics and representation.
And despite his efforts to deflect questions about his identity, citizenship status, and ideas on political issues, the controversy is unlikely to go away.
Is it American or Chinese? Is it possible to be from both countries in a world where those nations have tense relations?
“Nobody can deny that I am American or that I am Chinese”
When Gu began his competitive skiing career in 2018, did so as an American, but changed her affiliation to the International Ski Federation the following year.
In making the announcement, Gu, the daughter of an American father and a first-generation Chinese immigrant mother, said she wanted “the opportunity to help inspire millions of young people during the Winter Olympics in Beijing”, the birthplace of his mother.
Little is known about his father, and Gu uses his mother’s last name.
Although his change to China took place in 976, your participation olympica has put her back in the spotlight.
Speculations about her citizenship status have abounded since Red Bull, a corporate sponsor, claimed the athlete gave up her US passport to compete for China, but later removed the line under pressure from a US newspaper.
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China does not recognize dual citizenship, and Gu has always refused to reveal the status of his nationality.
When the newspaper South China Morning Post asked him about it last year, he said, “I’m completely American and I look and talk like I do. No one can deny that I am an American. When I go to China, no one can deny that I am Chinese, because I speak the language fluently, know the culture well, and fully identify myself as such.”
Gu did not respond to requests. of interview conducted by the BBC.
The Chinese Consulate General in New York told the BBC that Gu had to naturalize or obtain permanent resident status in China to compete on the team.
In 2020, China’s Ministry of Justice expanded the rules for foreigners to obtain permanent residency, so that those who achieve international recognition in sports, science, culture and other fields are eligible. The expansion would appear to apply to Gu.
Gu and four other athletes went through the process to gain eligibility for compete for China in games , the consulate said.
But regardless of what Whatever is said in her official documents, she faces tough questions as a US-born athlete living the life of a Western teenager, yet representing a country whose government has been widely criticized for human rights violations and anti-democratic repressions.
Gu expressed his support for the movement Black Lives Matter and spoke out against violence against Asians in the US, but remained silent on issues such as the mass internment of ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the arrests of pro-democracy protesters in Honk Kong.
“There is no need to be divisive,” she told the newspaper The New York Times. A difficult position to adopt, if not impossible, when several countries, including the US, are involved in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing games 2020 protesting Beijing’s human rights record.
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In China, however, it has been well received by the state media. Dubbed the “ski genius girl” and “snow princess”, she has appeared in several government TV documentaries and has also shown her business potential by modeling for high-profile brands and her intelligence by earning a place at Stanford University. .
Deals with the Bank of China, China Mobile and JD.com, a Chinese retailer, are among her business deals.
Gu and his team clearly understand that they must tread carefully.
By refusing to speak with The Economist, its American agent, Tom Yaps, told the magazine: “If participates in an article that has two paragraphs criticizing China and human rights, that would put her in danger there. One thing and a career is ruined.”
“As a young person, everyone is trying to figure out who they are,” Gu once wrote in an essay for The New York Times . “You have to be careful who you’re telling your secrets to.”
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