The Winter Olympics ‘snow princess’ Eileen Gu is seemingly caught in an impossible balancing act at this month’s Games, posing as China’s poster girl whilst descending from San Francisco, USA.
The 18-year-old freestyle skier has announced herself as one of China’s - and the world’s - most talented athletes, and has been dubbed the ‘snow princess’ by Chinese State Media heading into the Winter Olympics.
Gu has become a household name across China, and with the South East Asian country playing host to this year’s Games, she is expected to be the star of the show in Beijing.
Despite her Chinese stardom though, her roots somewhat controversially lie in the States, having been born in San Francisco to an American father and a Chinese mother.
America was where she found the love for her sport, but after securing a podium finish at the 2015 World Cup, the youngster made the contentious decision to pledge her competitive allegiances to China.
This, of course, skyrocketed Gu and her family into the sporting world spotlight, with Chinese-American political relations somewhat fractured at the current time.
And this has been heightened with the fact the 18-year-old finds herself as the poster girl of one of the most controversial Olympic Games in modern history.
Ahead of the event allegations of human rights abuses had been thrown at the Chinese state, and this heightened following the controversial disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai.
Following the controversies a number of the world’s most powerful countries made the decision to take a diplomatic boycott against the Games and China, including Gu’s home of the United States.
Despite the hostilities though, the 18-year-old is recognised as a star in her mother’s homeland and her popularity continues to grow.
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On the Chinese social media site Weibo the skier has amassed just under two million followers, whilst a documentary team are said to be following her every move throughout the Games.
In a time where Chinese and American relations remain hostile Gu has seemingly been a breath of fresh air, as she looks to provide a unifying middle ground between her two backgrounds.
The 18-year-old, who is no doubt equally proud of her hybrid heritage, shows both sides of her Chinese and American life.
She has social media accounts in both countries, and posts her content in both English and Chinese so her fans on both sides can enjoy her updates.
Gu herself revealed she is happy to live the split life she does in representing both her home nations at the 2020 Youth Winter Olympic Games.
She told the Olympic Channel: “When I'm in China, I'm Chinese. When I'm in the US, I'm American.”
Despite trying her best to stay out of her nation’s political controversies though, Gu actually finds herself at the centre of it, especially when it comes to citizenship.
China forbids dual nationality for all of its people, with those wanting to become Chinese citizens required to give up their foreign citizenship.
In the matter of Gu it remains unknown as to whether she has renounced her American nationality in order for her Chinese citizenship.
However some reports have suggested that in order for Gu and a number of other foreign born competitors to compete for the Chinese flag, the authorities may have bent their own rules in order to bolster their sporting exploits.
Whether any rules have been switched around remains to be seen, however one thing that is for sure is that Gu will be competing as one China’s superstars as she goes for gold in Beijing this month.
