Widgetized Section

Go to Admin » Appearance » Widgets » and move Gabfire Widget: Social into that MastheadOverlay zone

Star athlete Gu Ailing is heading to Beijing for the Winter Olympics Mixed-race identity leads controversial

Posted by on 2022/02/07. Filed under Breaking News,China,Headline News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

American freestyle skier Gu Ailing, who was born in the United States and now represents China, is making her Winter Olympic debut in Beijing, drawing a lot of publicity and attention from Chinese fans and state media, but also reigniting awkward questions about her nationality.

Eileen Gu, 18, is not only a fashion model, she is about to enroll at Stanford University, according to the report. After she officially joined the Chinese team in 2019, she was quickly recognized as the highest-profile Chinese Winter Olympic athlete.

Since Her arrival in Beijing at the end of January, Ms. Gu’s profile has grown further thanks to Chinese media coverage and her aggressive use of social media. The Global Times, the Chinese official media, said in a headline, “Freestyle skier Gu Ailing is a super idol of Chinese youth, representing a true sportsmanship.

Gu, whose mother was from Beijing, made her Olympic debut at 15 and is now considered a gold medal strong candidate. She will compete in three freestyle skiing events, big jump, slopestyle and halfpipe. Her first competition will be the qualification of the big jump on July 7.

Topics related to Gu have been hotly discussed on Chinese social media in recent weeks, from her standing in the front row as the Chinese team marched into the stadium at the opening ceremony to her choice of dumplings for her first meal on arrival in Beijing. The number of followers of Gu’s Weibo account surged by hundreds of thousands in a month to 1.7 million.

Chinese media have focused on Gu’s fluency in Chinese, her biracial face, her proud embrace of Chinese culture and her excellent academic performance as reasons for her popularity with the Chinese public.

But Gu has stirred up controversy, especially over her transfer to The Chinese team after playing for the United States, the country of her birth and upbringing.

Some Chinese Internet users questioned whether she had given up her US citizenship to play for China in the Beijing Winter Olympics. China does not allow dual citizenship; Local media have avoided the subject.

The hashtag “Nationality of Gu Ailing” was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Weibo from February 2 to 4. Tomson wrote: “Most British and Chinese keep their People’s Republic of China passports, but they are very careful lest they get caught and have their passports cut… Which is more valuable, the dignity of the law or gold MEDALS in the Winter Olympics?”

Many of Gu’s fans defended her. One of she’s fans wrote: “Who cares if she has dual nationality or not? Anyway, she is playing for China, she is carrying the Chinese flag! The glory she gained belongs to China, is it any other country?
c
Gu’s sports agent, Tom Yaps, told Reuters she was too busy to be interviewed and did not respond to written questions.

comments powered by Disqus