Eileen Gu, a freestyle skier and Tiffany’s ambassador, is poised for Olympic glory after many world records and fashion campaigns. Gu, who was born in the United States to a Chinese mother and an American father, decided to leave her American team at the age of 15 to represent China.
Despite turning her back on Team USA to represent China and promote the Games for them around the world, iconic American firms like Tiffany’s and Cadillac continue to sponsor Californian skier Eileen Gu, the poster girl of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the Daily Mail reported.
She was born and reared in San Francisco, where she graduated from high school. She has also been accepted to Stanford University to study. Yan’s mother is a first-generation Chinese immigrant, while her father, who is rumored to be American, has never been identified officially.
She does not appear to realize or confront the huge tension of supporting one of America’s oldest rivals while yet cashing in on her notoriety in interviews. She has recently stated in an interview with Red Bull’s Bulletin that when she is in America, she is American; when she is in China, she is Chinese.
She is known as “Gu Ailing,” or “snow princess,” and she chooses to represent China on Weibo, where she has 1.3 million followers, as well as Cadillac, Tiffany, Visa, Serabody, Victoria’s Secret, Oakley, and other brands.
If the brand icons are aware of the ‘conflict’ they are ignoring it, reports said.
The skier’s decision to leave Team USA and compete for China appears to be motivated by the rapid growth of skiing as a celebrity sport in China. China declared intentions to develop at least 800 new ski resorts when it was awarded the Winter Games in 2015.
She appears in Olympic advertising movies, according to Red Bull, jogging along the Great Wall of China while carrying the Olympic flame.
Those videos don’t appear to be available online, which is consistent with China’s tight control over what is published about it.
Red Bull had reported in a recent Wall Street Journal feature that Gu had given up her US passport in order to play for China.
She is not the first international celebrity to support China over the United States.
Nicolas Tse, a Canadian-Chinese actor, resigned his Canadian citizenship last year and vowed his allegiance to China.
He, like Gu, stated that it was his responsibility to inspire Chinese youths and propagate the country’s culture around the world.
