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 Olympic 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 US 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 geopolitical 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 the wellbeing of Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis star who has been the subject of considerable speculation and concern after she posted a claim that a government official coerced her into sex, Gu deftly focused on the fact Peng had turned up to watch her. “It is a big honour when athletes from other sports come and pay attention to smaller sports like free skiing,” she said. “I am really grateful that she is happy and healthy and out here doing her thing again.”
This delicate attempt to straddle two countries and two cultures has certainly not harmed Gu’s bank balance. Already she has racked up millions in endorsements from more than 20 sponsors, ranging from the Bank of China to Louis Vuitton and Victoria’s Secret. But, inevitably, her decision to compete under the flag of China has led to criticism and worse. On Tuesday, with the US team still without a gold medal at these Games, the hashtag #EileenGuTraitor was trending on US social media.
Asked by the Guardian about her critics, Gu was impressively forthright. “I’m an 18-year-old out here living my best life,” she replied. “I know I have a good heart. And I know my reasons for making the decisions I do. They are based on something I feel like is for the greater good.
“I’m not going to waste my time trying to placate people who are uneducated, and don’t experience the gratitude and love I have on a daily basis.” Then a twist of the knife. “If they don’t believe me, and if people don’t like me, that is their loss: they are never going to win the Olympics.”
Earlier Gu told an adoring Chinese media that her mother had also called her before her final trick to tell her to play it safe – advice she said that she had ignored, prompting many smiles.
However, Gu’s story is not the only one of a US-born athlete competing for China that is playing out at these Winter Games at a time of rising cyber-nationalism.
On Sunday, the 19-year-old Zhu Yi, who was born in California, fell flat on the ice during her routine. Immediately, “Zhu Yi Has Fallen” became a trending topic on Weibo, gaining millions of views. “Shame on you,” one wrote. “How dare you skate for China?!” another angry viewer said.
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That didn’t quite tell the whole story. Even after Zhu slipped, audiences in the venue clapped for her. However, on social media the tone was harsher, with some pointing out her lack of fluency in Chinese language and urged her to learn Mandarin properly. There was even discussion of her family background, including her father’s profession, with some suggesting her selection was down to her family connections.
“I just felt very sad that I couldn’t do better and help during this team event but I’m very grateful to have them, and have them cheering for me,” Zhu said afterwards.
It led Hu Xijin, the former editor of the nationalistic Global Times, to urge people not to cyberbully her online. “To vent emotions on this young athlete, using social media to throw rocks down a well when she makes mistakes – that’s cyberbullying, and no matter what it’s going too far,” he wrote in a long post on Weibo.
On the Chinese internet a new narrative is stirring: that it is the US media stirring up negativity on Zhu, who also fell twice in her programme on Monday. However it is telling that the topic “Zhu Yi Has Fallen” is no longer in existence on Weibo – with censors perhaps realising the seriousness of the matter.
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Meanwhile, Gu’s Games is far from over. Over the next week she will set her sights on a historic treble of freeski gold medals. It will require her to show yet more remarkable skill and adroitness. But few would bet against her delivering again. And again.
Additional reporting by Xiaoqian Zhu