Eileen Gu

Eileen Feng Gu (born September 3, 2003), also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing (谷爱凌), is a freestyle skier. Born in the United States, she has competed for China in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events since 2019.

At age 18, Gu became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing after winning gold medals in big air and halfpipe, and a silver medal in slopestyle, at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She is the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Winter Olympics. Her decision to compete for China was controversial, drawing international attention.

Time named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world under the 'Pioneers' category on its annual list in 2022. Forbes listed her as the second-highest earning female athlete in the world in 2023.

Eileen Gu was born on September 3, 2003, in San Francisco, California, United States. Her mother, Yan Gu (Chinese: 谷燕; pinyin: Gǔ Yàn), is a first-generation Chinese immigrant. Her father is American. Her maternal grandfather was the chief electrical engineer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China.

Yan emigrated to the United States after receiving a master's degree in chemical engineering at Peking University, where she was a member of the short-track speed skating team. She moved to the Bay Area to attend Stanford University Graduate School of Business and worked in finance after earning her MBA.

Yan raised her daughter as a single mother in San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood. At 3, Gu began skiing in Lake Tahoe, where Yan once worked as part-time ski instructor. She joined the Northstar California Resort free-ski team at eight, and won her first national championship at nine.

Gu attended primary and middle school at the Katherine Delmar Burke School and went to high school at San Francisco University High. Every summer, she attended cram school in Beijing for mathematics. She scored 1580 out of 1600 on her SAT.

Gu earned early admittance to Stanford University, her mother's alma mater, in December 2020. She entered the freshman class in 2022, the same year she was presented as a debutante at Le Bal des débutantes in Paris.