- Cook County state’s attorney election results today: Eileen O’Neill Burke wins primary election over Clayton Harris III WLS-TV
- O’Neill Burke wins Democratic primary for state’s attorney Chicago Tribune
- Former Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke wins Democratic primary in Chicago-area prosecutor’s race WGN TV Chicago
- Harris edges a few votes closer to O’Neill Burke as state’s attorney primary nears counting finish line Chicago Sun-Times
- AP: Eileen O’Neill Burke projected to win Democratic primary for Cook County State’s Attorney NBC Chicago
Tag Archives: Eileen
Virginia House Democrats oust former speaker Eileen Filler-Corn as party leader
But Democrats rebuffed Scott’s call to immediately hold elections to replace her, Del. Mark D. Sickles (D-Fairfax) said after the meeting, adding that they wanted to give other people who might be interested in running time to prepare.
Filler-Corn issued a statement minutes after the meeting broke up.
“I thank the people of Virginia and my colleagues in the House of Delegates for allowing me to serve as the first woman and first person of Jewish faith to serve as Speaker in the 403-year history of our Commonwealth — truly the honor of my life,” she said. “I was proud of all that we accomplished after taking the majority in 2019 and was willing to step up as Minority Leader once more to regain that majority. Our caucus is made up of 48 talented and diverse individuals and I look forward to working with them to retake the majority.”
Caucus Chairwoman Charniele L. Herring (Alexandria) survived a vote on whether she should be ousted, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the proceedings who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
House Democrats said the decision to hold off picking a new leader came with some debate.
“The argument for doing it right away is that it’s silly to walk around headless, right? Well, the argument for taking longer is to give everybody who really wants to the opportunity to consider it,” Del. Marcus B. Simon (D-Fairfax) said.
Herring seemed to act as the voice of the caucus during floor debate.
With the Assembly in an ongoing special session as it waits for a budget to vote on, Democrats will have plenty of opportunities to meet again and vote on a new leader, Simon said — maybe at a budget session, he added, or even over a weekend.
Though there were some raised voices in the closed caucus meeting, Simon said the overall tone was positive.
“We are a great big happy family, and like all kinds of families, sometimes dinner table conversations can get loud,” he said.
The vast majority of that conversation was respectful and done really well,” added Del. Alfonso H. Lopez (D-Arlington).
Scott declined to comment as he walked along the back of the House chamber during a lull in the session. Filler-Corn also demurred, apart from the statement she released shortly after the vote.
The leadership drama came on a day when the General Assembly was gathering for its annual veto session, to consider the vetoes and amendments that Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) made to bills passed this year by the divided General Assembly. Youngkin’s victory last fall in a seemingly solidly blue state led to some finger-pointing among Democrats, who also saw their two-year majority in the House slip away.
Eileen Gu wins gold in freeski halfpipe to make Olympic history
The 18-year-old superstar topped the podium in the halfpipe final at Zhangjiakou’s Genting Snow Park, adding to her gold in the big air event last week and silver in slopestyle on Tuesday.
Gu, who says halfpipe is her strongest event, dominated from the start.
Again and again, she sped up the wall of the halfpipe and launched herself skyward, spinning and twisting gracefully to loud cheers from fans in the stands.
Already firmly in the lead, she outdid herself in the second run with an impressive score of 95.25. She was already assured of the gold by the time she set off on a third run victory lap.
Gu gave her coach a big hug at the top of the slope, came down the halfpipe once again and finished the ride with easy jumps, posing and celebrating her victory in midair.
“I’ve never taken a victory lap before in my entire life, so I felt like, ‘You know what, last event at the Olympics it feels like I finally deserve it’. I’m really happy,” Gu told reporters after her win, according to the Olympic site.
“It has been two straight weeks of the most intense highs and lows I’ve ever experienced in my life. It has changed my life forever,” she said.
Reflecting on her first and history-making Olympic Games, Gu said her overriding emotion was a “deep-seated sense of gratitude and resolution.”
“Just like this all coming together, years and years in the making and it’s like letting out a deep breath. I feel exhausted. I mean, God, from opening ceremony until now I’ve been skiing every single day so I’m really tired, but I feel at peace. I feel grateful. I feel passionate, and I feel proud,” she said.
Canada’s Cassie Sharpe claimed silver with a best score of 90.75, with her teammate Rachael Karker taking bronze. An emotional Gu embraced both of them as they posed for photos after event.
She also wore a panda hat as she received her Bing Dwen Dwen replica mascot on the podium, causing a stir among her fans on Chinese social media.
A breakout star
The Beijing 2022 Olympics have been a breakthrough moment for Gu as she became one of the biggest stars of the Games.
Born and raised in California, Gu chose in 2019 to compete for China, where she is known as Gu Ailing. In the lead-up to the Games, her popularity skyrocketed, with her face splashed across billboards, commercials, magazine covers and on state television.
And since the Games got underway, she has become a national sensation, earning more than 5 million fans on social media site Weibo.
She was hailed as the “pride of China” after winning her first gold, and has since won more medals than anyone else for Team China at these Games. Following her final victory in the halfpipe, China now boasts eight gold medals — the same as the United States (although China’s total medal count lags behind the US.)
But Gu has played down the national rivalry in the sport.
“One thing I love so much about freeskiing is this camaraderie and this spirit of support in which it’s not about what country you’re skiing for, it’s about our shared passion for the sport and this unique ability for this extreme sport to unite people because we’re not here to break limits for a country, we’re here to break the human limit,” she said.
“It’s not about nationality, it’s about bringing people together. It’s about sharing culture. It’s about learning from each other and forging friendships.”
Though Gu switched to compete for China, it’s unclear whether she renounced her American citizenship — usually a requirement for Chinese naturalization, since the country does not allow dual citizenship. She has repeatedly dodged questions about her citizenship while highlighting her dual identity, often saying: “When I’m in China, I’m Chinese. When I’m in the US, I’m American.”
Winter Olympics 2022 — Mikaela Shiffrin 18th in downhill, Eileen Gu earns silver, plus more from Beijing
On Tuesday at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin raced in the downhill, while Eileen Gu earned a silver medal in ski slopestyle and Anna Gasser won her second straight Olympic gold in snowboard big air.
If you are feeling extra ambitious this evening, we suggest trying to stay up to watch women’s figure skating take center stage in the early morning hours (Eastern time). As always, we have live updates of all the action:
Yiming is golden
Su Yiming gets big air, can confirm.
Yiming’s second medal of the Games (silver in slopestyle), and first gold medal, carried extra significance as he became the first Chinese snowboarder to win gold at the Olympic Winter Games — and he did it in his home country.
After scoring a 89.50 on his first run, the 17-year-old completed a ridiculous second run earning a score of 93.00. The pair of huge 1800s (front and backside) in his first two runs were enough to secure him the men’s snowboard big air crown. After his final run — which was essentially just a victory lap as the win was already sealed — he received a standing ovation before being swarmed by his fellow competitors in congratulations for his historic feat.
“UNBELIEVEABLE!”
Su Yiming’s second run earned himself a 93.00 en route to his men’s snowboard big air GOLD! 🥇#WinterOlympics | #WatchWithUS pic.twitter.com/t6ZUt9DXZi
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 15, 2022
Meanwhile, things didn’t go exactly according to plan for Team USA’s Red Gerard and Chris Corning.
Gerard came in fifth place, which is the same spot he finished at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, while Corning finished seventh. — Tory Barron
Shiffrin races again
After a challenging first week at the 2022 Olympic Games, which saw her record two “Did Not Finish” results in her best two races and a ninth-place finish in the super-G, Mikaela Shiffrin returned to competition in Tuesday’s downhill event.
Competing 12th in a field of 36, Shiffrin crossed the finish line in 1:34.36, which was the 11th-fastest result at the time of her completion. It was her first time competing in the race in the Olympics, but she has won the event twice on the World Cup circuit, and recorded five podium finishes.
By the time the event concluded, she had fallen to 18th place and was 2.49 seconds behind gold-medalist Corinne Suter of Switzerland. Sofia Goggia and Nadia Delago, both of Italy, earned the silver and bronze.
“I think I have a shot and that’s really nice.” 💫
Mikaela Shiffrin shares an update ahead of the combined event.#WinterOlympics | @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/hn1VUPYhjk
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) February 15, 2022
Shiffrin, who has been candid about her struggles at these Games, told reporters she wasn’t thinking about finishing on the podium before the race.
“I’m not focusing on the medal anymore,” she said. “It’s just trying to do my best execution every day. Anyway, that’s my best shot at a medal. So it’s a little bit of maybe a paradox … that your best chance to have that performance is to stop thinking about the performance and to focus on what you’re doing in that moment. So I’m just trying to be present in the moment, especially with the downhill.”
Shiffrin seemed to do just that as she smiled and waved at the camera after finishing the race. She’ll have one more opportunity to win a medal at the 2022 Olympic Games during Thursday’s combined event. She won the silver medal in the discipline in 2018. — D’Arcy Maine
Gu gets another medal
Eileen Gu had a second-place finish in the women’s ski slopestyle competition, meaning she could still become the first action-sports athlete to capture three medals at the same Winter Games. (She will compete in halfpipe later this week.)
Medal # 2️⃣ for Eileen Gu. 🥈
The 18-year-old earns her second Olympic medal of the 2022 #WinterOlympics in women’s freeski slopestyle.
📺 @nbc and @peacockTV
💻 https://t.co/kCkQzKDhze pic.twitter.com/oDfUgndd3g— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 15, 2022
Gu won big air last week, but her bid for another gold medal was thwarted by Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland. Sitting in eighth place after two runs, Gu used a strong final run to work her way onto the podium. She couldn’t catch Gremaud, who scored an 86.56 on her second run. Kelly Sildaru of Estonia took home bronze.
Valieva ‘tired emotionally’ after hearing
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was worn out after a grueling doping hearing ended with her being allowed to skate Tuesday in the women’s short program at the Beijing Olympics.
“These days have been very difficult for me,” Valieva, who practiced in both of her allotted sessions Monday, told Russian state broadcaster Channel One in comments shown that night. “I’m happy but I’m tired emotionally.”
There won’t be a medal ceremony if Valieva finishes in the top three because the International Olympic Committee is concerned that she could still be banned after a full investigation of her doping case. The three-member court ruled only on whether she could skate at the Olympics and did not consider the full merits of the case.
“I sat there for seven hours, we had one 20-minute break, and I sat there and watched. It was very difficult, but it is apparently one of the moments, of the phases, that I have to go through,” Valieva said, adding that the entire process had taught her that adult life “can be unfair to some extent.”
Valieva is scheduled to perform in the final group, 26th among the 30 women taking part in the individual competition on Tuesday morning in Beijing. More on Valieva.
Repeat in big air
Austria’s Anna Gasser did it again! The 2018 Olympic gold medalist won back-to-back gold in women’s snowboard big air after earning a 95.50 score in the third run.
Gasser, 30, held the lead after the first round as she went head-to-head with this year’s slopestyle gold medalist, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, of New Zealand. Sadowski-Synnott came back strong to take the lead by .25 in the second run. Under pressure, Gasser recorded a superb third run, while Sadowski-Synnott fell in her third run.
Anna Gasser DEFENDS HER GOLD!
The Austrian goes back-to-back in women’s big air thanks to a 95.50 on her final run!#WinterOlympics
📺 : @USA_Network and @peacockTV
💻 : https://t.co/DaRR18atEa pic.twitter.com/IFu3t5mbIZ— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 15, 2022
Immediately after Gasser’s run, the rest of the snowboarders swarmed her, embracing her for her performance. She joins Chloe Kim, Jamie Anderson and Ester Ledecká as the only women with multiple gold medals in snowboarding at the Olympics.
Japan’s Kokomo Murase picked up the bronze, and Team USA’s Hailey Langland finished 12th. — Aishwarya Kumar
Shuster has an epic day
Team USA’s skipper, John Shuster, who is playing in his fifth straight Olympics, came in clutch, stealing a point off his final throw of the eighth. That shot resulted in the U.S. beating Switzerland 7-4, making the four-team playoffs. His family was, understandably, quite excited:
“USA! USA! USA!” 🇺🇸
The family watch party for Team Shuster was ELECTRIC tonight as @usacurl won an exciting match.
(Via @TeamShuster) | @TeamUSA
pic.twitter.com/NbdlAUE4bx
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 15, 2022
The U.S. will play Italy next on Tuesday, which is currently at the bottom of the standings.
Shuster also had a pretty great Valentine’s Day …
Roses are red, medals are gold?
When it comes to Valentine’s Day, roses and chocolate are par for the course for the occasion. However, Shuster’s son, Luke, had something a little more timely in mind when crafting a card to show love for his dad.
Namely, gold medals.
John Shuster is feeling the love!❤️
His son, Luke, sent his dad the sweetest Valentine’s Day card cheering him on at the #WinterOlympics. (via IG/shoostie) pic.twitter.com/NzmwpJaI0F
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 15, 2022
We see no lies here.
Judging frustrations
Olympic judging at snowboarding events on slopestyle, in the halfpipe and now at big air has come under fire from the boarders themselves, who say they are fed up with inconsistent and, at times, blatantly incorrect scoring with so much on the line.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Red Gerard said Monday. “There’s nothing they can do after they put the scores in to change it. … You’re talking about, this is life-changing for some people, you know?” Read more on it here.
Upcoming events (all times ET)
11:10 p.m.: Men’s hockey quarterfinal playoff (Slovakia vs. Germany; Denmark vs. Latvia)
12 a.m.: Men’s snowboard big air final
3:20 a.m.: Speedskating team pursuit finals
3:40 a.m.: Men’s hockey quarterfinal playoff (Czech Republic vs. Switzerland)
5:00 a.m.: Figure skating women’s short program
7 a.m.: Men’s curling round robin (multiple matches)
8:10 a.m.: Men’s hockey quarterfinal playoff (Canada vs. China)
Winter Olympics Live Updates: Eileen Gu Goes for Gold in Slopestyle Skiing
The International Olympic Committee’s decision on Monday to allow a Russian figure skating star to continue competing in Beijing despite a failed doping test did not sit right with another top athlete who missed competing in the Olympics for a similar reason: the American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.
Richardson, 21, who had been favored to win a medal in the women’s 100 meters, lost her spot on the U.S. team for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo after she tested positive for marijuana.
The Russian skater, Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old whose flawless performance helped lift her country to a gold medal in the team competition last week, tested positive before the Beijing Games for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication that can increase endurance.
After the I.O.C. took the extraordinary step on Monday of permitting Valieva to continue competing in singles events, Richardson commented on the development on Twitter.
She asked for a “solid answer” on the difference between Valieva’s case and her own, noting that she too had been expected to win a medal. “The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady,” she wrote.
Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines? My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady. https://t.co/JtUfmp3F8L
— Sha’Carri Richardson (@itskerrii) February 14, 2022
Adam Rippon, a 2018 Olympic medalist who coaches the American figure skater Mariah Bell, asked what message it sent to allow a young white athlete to compete after testing positive, but not a young Black athlete.
“I also think that there’s actual accountability in the United States compared to what happens in other countries,” Rippon said Monday. “There’s no doubt about that.”
Richardson questioned why Valieva was allowed to compete despite doubts about her eligibility, when Richardson had been forced by U.S. officials to skip the Olympics altogether.
In its ruling on Monday, the I.O.C. said that should Valieva win a medal, no ceremony would be held until her case is resolved. Though her test sample was taken on Dec. 25 at the Russian championships, the results were not confirmed until Feb. 7, after she had competed in the team figure skating competition, Russian antidoping officials have said.
Antidoping experts disagree on whether trimetazidine could have enhanced Valieva’s performance. Valieva’s coach, Eteri Tutberidze, told Russia’s state-run TV network Channel One on Saturday that, even though there are still many unanswered questions about the case, “we are absolutely confident that Kamila is innocent and clean.”
Marijuana is considered a performance-enhancing drug by the World Anti-Doping Agency and is banned on race days, but not outside of competition. Though research on the drug is limited, it can have energizing or sedating effects, depending on the strain; marijuana could be used, for example, as a relaxation aid before intense competitions.
Richardson’s case has led to calls to reconsider marijuana’s status as a banned substance, since it is legal in many states. She said she had used the drug to cope with the death of her mother.
Juliet Macur contributed reporting.
Eileen Gu praises ‘sister’ Chloe Kim after second gold medal win
Chloe Kim and Eileen Gu will be leaving Beijing with more than just gold medals.
On Thursday, Gu came to support longtime pal Kim, 21, during the women’s halfpipe final at the 2022 Olympics. The American clinched a first-place finish with a whopping score of 94 during her first run.
When the two-time gold medalist’s big win became official two runs later, Kim celebrated with Gu, who embraced her with a wide smile and showered her with praise. Later, the 18-year-old continued to share her admiration for Kim on her Instagram Story, honoring the monumental achievement.
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“@chloekim did it again!!!” Gu wrote, accompanied by a sweet picture of the pair hugging. “So proud to have you as a friend, inspo, and big sister all in one.”
Gu, who was born and raised in San Francisco, is representing China during the Winter Games. She triumphed in the women’s freestyle skiing big air competition on Tuesday, narrowly defeating France’s Tess Ledeux for a gold-medal finish.
The duo both grew up in California and have known each other for years and have remained close as their careers on the slopes grew. Gu spent much of her childhood skiing in Lake Tahoe and honing her skills there. Kim, a Southern California native, regularly practiced 150 miles south at Mammoth Mountain.
While the snowboarding halfpipe competition signaled the end of Kim’s Olympics, Gu still has two more events to go. She will take place in both the women’s slopestyle and women’s freeski halfpipe competitions.
The slopestyle qualification round will take place on Sunday with the event final on Monday. Gu will finish her packed Olympic slate with the halfpipe qualifiers on Friday Feb. 17 and the finals the next day.
Most likely, she’ll have Kim on the sidelines cheering her on.
Eileen Gu soars to Olympic gold as China embraces dual-culture star | Winter Olympics Beijing 2022
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
Eileen Gu: Teenage Olympic sensation wins gold and crashes Weibo
American-born Gu, 18, jumped into the top position at the women’s big air competition with her third run, scoring 94.5 with a 1620 and a perfect landing — making her total score 188.25 in the event’s debut at the Winter Olympics.
She narrowly beat out France’s Tess Ledeux, who took silver with a score of 187.50. Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud won the bronze.
“That was the best moment of my life. The happiest moment, day, whatever — of my life. I just cannot believe what just happened,” said Gu after her win, according to the Olympic site.
“Even if I didn’t land it, I felt it would send a message out to the world and hopefully encourage more girls to break their own boundaries,” she added. “That was my biggest goal going into my last run. I reminded myself to have fun and enjoy the moment and that, no matter what, I was so grateful to even have this opportunity to even be here.”
Fans filled the stands to cheer for Gu, who was born and raised in California but decided in 2019 to compete for China. Known as the “snow princess” among her Chinese fans, Gu — already a reigning world champion — has become the unofficial face of China’s Olympic ambitions, and saw her popularity skyrocket in the lead-up to the Games.
Ledeux, who had been leading the competition until the last run when she overbalanced on the landing, sank to the ground in tears after the final result. Gu and Gremaud both knelt on the snowy floor to console her, pulling Ledeux into a hug and rubbing her back.
Gu’s victory sparked joyous scenes online. The topic dominated searches on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo, where seven of the 10 top trending topics were all about Gu’s win. Fans on her Weibo, where she has 2.6 million followers, left more than 90,000 comments in less than 30-minutes after her win.
Related hashtags, such as “Gu Ailing won the gold medal,” received more than 300 million views within an hour — eventually crashing the entire Weibo site due to the massive number of users.
Chinese authorities were also unusually quick to congratulate Gu. “We are glad to hear that Gu Ailing, a Beijing athlete, won a precious gold medal for the Chinese sports delegation and honored for the country with her perfect performance in the final of the women’s freestyle ski platform at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games,” said the Beijing Municipal Government and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Beijing Committee, referring to Gu by her Chinese name.
Gu’s father is American and her mother is Chinese. She grew up skiing on the slopes of Lake Tahoe, and had reached her first World Cup podium by the age of 15.
Though she switched to compete for China, it’s unclear whether she renounced her American citizenship — usually a requirement for Chinese naturalization, since the country does not allow dual citizenship. Gu has never publicly commented on the status of her American citizenship, though an article on the official Olympic site referred to her “dual nationality” in January.
At a news conference after her win on Tuesday, reporters asked Gu several times if she was still a US citizen. She dodged answering each time, saying only that she felt American in the US and Chinese in China.
Since joining China’s national team, Gu’s face has been splashed across magazine covers and billboards in the country. She has landed numerous sponsorships and brand deals, and is fast becoming one of China’s hottest young stars — though her newfound success has also come with increased scrutiny from critics in the West.
Apart from her skiing career, she’s also a model, brand ambassador, and was accepted into Stanford University, which she plans to attend in the fall.
CNN’s Helen Regan contributed to this report.
Eileen Gu Wins Gold in Big Air Freestyle Skiing
BEIJING — Eileen Gu needed the best jump of her life to win a gold medal. The 18-year-old from California had come to her mother’s home country hoping to win three events at the Winter Olympics while representing China.
Under the glare of a bright sun and the eyes of the international news media, Gu stood on top of the huge, modern big air jump, set in an industrial park amid concrete cooling towers. She was in third place with one jump to go.
Her mother called. Yan Gu, who grew up in Beijing, was at the bottom of the jump, trying to give her daughter advice.
Do the 1440 again, she told her, referring to a four-rotation trick that Gu had landed nearly perfectly already. Maybe it lifts you to a silver medal. Gu had other ideas.
“Mom, executive call here,” she recalled saying. “Vetoed. I am going to make the 16, and you are going to deal with it.”
Gu landed the trick, officially a Left Double 1620 with a safety grab, the first time she had even tried it, she said. It earned enough points to vault her into first. When France’s Tess Ledeux could not match the score, Gu had gold and Ledeux got silver.
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As Gu waited for her results, Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, congratulated her at the finish. When the numbers came in, fans in the grandstands cheered for Gu and waved small Chinese flags.
“I was hoping that it wouldn’t have to come to that, but it did,” Gu said of the trick. “Honestly, I’m really glad that it did, because I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to try it.”
Born and raised in California but competing for China, Gu has attracted international attention — and some debate — for her decision in 2019 to represent her mother’s homeland.
The decision was barely noted when she was 15 and the Olympics were nearly three years away. Now Gu dominates her sport and finds herself straddling a growing geopolitical rift between her two countries.
Yan Gu, Eileen’s mother, was born in Shanghai and raised in Beijing, the daughter of a government engineer. She emigrated to the United States about 30 years ago for postgraduate studies and settled in San Francisco.
Eileen Gu, raised by her mother in an upscale San Francisco neighborhood, has become a model, representing luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Company. She has so many sponsorships in China that she is a ubiquitous presence in advertisements and receives glowing news coverage from the state media.
Gu has said that she wants to be a bridge between the United States and China while inspiring young women and helping China’s nascent winter-sports industry to grow. She and her mother have declined to discuss any of the thorny geopolitical issues that involve the rival countries.
After winning the gold medal on Tuesday, Gu was asked at least six times about whether she still holds U.S. citizenship. China does not allow dual citizenship. She deftly talked about the support she has received from both countries, about how she feels Chinese when in China and American when in the United States, and never answered the question.
She spent two hours doing interviews after her victory, and spun past anyone who might criticize her.
“No matter what I say, if people don’t have a good heart, they won’t believe me, because they can’t empathize with people who do have a good heart,” she said. “So in that sense, I feel as though it’s a lot easier to block out the hate now. And also, they’re never going to know what it feels like to win an Olympic gold medal.”
There were 12 freestyle skiers in the women’s final of big air at Shougang Park, but the focus was almost entirely on Gu. Athletes each had three jumps, judged on a 100-point scale. The best two scores were added together to determine the winner.
Gu opened with a “right double 1440 safety,” scoring 93.75 and putting her into first place. Her lead didn’t last long.
Ledeux landed a 1620 — an extra half rotation from what Gu performed — to earn a score of 94.5. Gu and Ledeux traded big tricks in the second round, and Gu headed to her last jump needing at least 93 points to leap from third to first.
That is when Gu decided in the call with her mother that she would try to spin her bronze, already secured, into gold.
Her celebration plan was to eat some Ghirardelli chocolate (made in San Francisco), play some piano, write in her journal and relax.
Practice for the slopestyle competition was scheduled for the next day. There were more medals and hearts to win, and maybe more questions to handle.
Winter Olympics 2022 — Eileen Gu wins gold, Nathan Chen competes again, U.S. vs. Canada hockey and more live updates in Beijing
Tuesday in Beijing at the 2022 Winter Olympics has already been jam-packed with excitement as Eileen Gu won the first-ever Olympic gold in freeski big air and Ryan Cochran-Siegle earned silver in the men’s Super-G, 50 years after his mom won a slalom gold.
In figure skating, the U.S. team lost one of its biggest stars Monday morning when Vincent Zhou withdrew from competition after testing positive for COVID-19. But three-time world champion Nathan Chen will start his quest for individual gold in the men’s short program. Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu began with a major error, but 2018 silver medalist Shoma Uno and his Japanese teammate Yuma Kagiyama excelled.
If you’re on the East Coast, drink some extra coffee to stay up late — because it’s rivalry time in Beijing: Canada vs. Team USA in women’s hockey.
Despite dominating play for most of the first period, the U.S. left for intermission down 1-0 to archrival Canada. The Americans buzzed the Canadian zone for nearly 10 minutes, twice hitting the post with shots. But a cross-checking penalty on Team USA’s Caroline Harvey led to a power-play goal by Canada’s Brianne Jenner, scoring at 14:10 of the first period on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Sarah Fillier and Marie-Phillip Poulin. The Americans had a 14-3 shot advantage when Canada scored, and finished the period with a 16-5 shot advantage.
We’ve got updates on all the action here:
Gu becomes the first Olympic champion in freeski big air
By landing two of the biggest tricks in women’s freeskiing, Eileen Gu captured the win in the sport’s Olympic debut in Beijing. In fact, only two women in the world, Gu and Tess Ledeux of France, have ever landed 1620 spins in a freeskiing contest and both did so Tuesday to go 1-2 in big air finals. Gu had never landed the trick in competition. When she did so on her third jump, she screamed, skied to the bottom of the landing and dropped to her knees.
“I’m not crying,” Gu said into the television camera. “I’m definitely not crying.” Gu’s third-run score saw her jump into first place above Ledeux, who had landed the double cork 1620 on her first run. When Gu saw the score, she grabbed her helmet and fought back tears. She took off her skis and bowed to the crowd. Then she waited. In her third and final attempt, Ledeux, who won the X Games big air event for the third time just a few days before flying to Beijing, threw a massive switch 1440, but landed on one ski and was unable to reclaim the lead. Swiss skier Mathilde Gremauld finished third. Darian Stevens, the only U.S. skier to make the final, finished 11th.
EILEEN GU WITH A MASSIVE FINAL RUN!!
She nails a double cork 1620 to take over the first place spot! #WinterOlympics | @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/MKRgttOFvB
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) February 8, 2022
Born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother and American father and raised by her mother and maternal grandmother, Gu opted to compete for China at these Games. With the win, Gu ties China’s gold medal haul (3) from the Pyeongchang Olympics — and that’s with two events left to compete: freeski slopestyle and halfpipe.
“That was the best moment of my life. The happiest moment, day, whatever — of my life. I just cannot believe what just happened,” she said after. — Alyssa Roenigk
Two-time gold medalist Hanyu makes costly mistake early
Yuzuru Hanyu, the reigning two-time Olympic champion, made an extremely uncharacteristic mistake in the much-hyped showdown between him and Nathan Chen. He was supposed to do a quad salchow for his opening jump and instead popped it — meaning he registered zero points for that element. He was graceful and majestic as always throughout the rest of the skate but scored only 95.15 points. He was visibly upset as he left the ice. — Elaine Teng
Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu currently sits in second place in the men’s singles short program.
📺 @nbc and @peacockTV
💻 https://t.co/754qVDfZCn pic.twitter.com/y0uV57owYj— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 8, 2022
Men’s downhill is back on the podium
Fifty years after his mother, Barbara Ann, won a slalom gold in the 1972 Sapporo Games, Ryan Cochran-Siegle wins silver in the men’s Super-G after a 1:19:98 run. After charging to the finish, Cochran-Siegle said “What’s up, Vermont? I hope it holds,” to the camera.
Cochran-Siegle, 29, and in his second Olympics, was in the lead when he went past the third checkpoint of the men’s downhill event, but finished four-hundredths of a second behind Austria’s Matthias Mayer, who defended his Olympic title. Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde picked up bronze.
Cochran-Siegle is the sixth member of his family to compete in an Alpine event at the Olympics. At the 2018 Olympics, the U.S. men’s alpine team failed to make the podium for the first time in 20 years. — Aish Kumar
Take a bow, Donovan Carrillo
Already the first Mexican figure skater to compete in the Olympic Games in 30 years, Donovan Carrillo made even more history for his country on Tuesday by becoming the first skater from his country to qualify for the free skate portion of the event. The 22-year-old Carrillo dazzled those watching in the building and around the world with a high-energy performance, which included a successful quadruple toe loop and a triple axel, set to a medley of music by Santana.
He earned a 79.69 score for his efforts, and immediately qualified for Thursday’s free skate. He couldn’t hide his excitement after completing his routine, and after hearing his score, smiled and raised his hands in jubilation.
Carrillo, who was a flag bearer for Mexico in the Opening Ceremony, practices at an ice rink in a shopping mall in Leon, Mexico. He already owns the record for best result at a world championship by a Mexican skater after finishing in 20th place in 2021. — D’Arcy Maine
Dreams do come true! 😍
📷: @DonovanDCarr pic.twitter.com/mtkAZMmxbM
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 8, 2022
Injury update on O’Brien
Team USA skier Nina O’Brien, who was carried off on a stretcher after crashing across the finish line of the second run of her giant slalom event on Monday, posted on Instagram that she had surgery Monday night Beijing time to “stabilize her tibia, which unfortunately was an open fracture through my leg.”
She added that she would further care back in the U.S.
“I keep replaying it in my head, wishing I’d skied those last few gates differently. But here we are,” she wrote in her Instagram post. “I want to say thank you to everyone who’s taken care of me.”
O’Brien, 24, lost her balance close to the finish line of her run. –Aish Kumar
Peng Shuai watches Eileen Gu
Tennis star Peng Shuai was spotted at the Big Air Shougang venue with IOC President Thomas Bach. They watched Eileen Gu win her gold medal in women’s freeski big air. Bach told the press that Peng is leaving the bubble today and going into the required quarantine to leave the Olympic closed loop and enter the general population of China.
Event schedule (all times ET)
8:15 p.m.: Men’s figure skating — singles short program
9 p.m.: Women’s freestyle skiing — big air final
10 p.m.: Men’s alpine skiing — Super-G
11:00 p.m.: Women’s hockey preliminary — U.S. vs. Canada
5:30 a.m.: Men’s speed skating — 1,500 meters
8:35 a.m.: Women’s luge — singles finals