Behind $30m megastar’s type gesture for 16-year-old Aussie – Imperial Wire

LIVIGNO: Snowboarding megastar Eileen Gu is an image of contrasts.

The 22-year-old American-born Chinese language two-time Olympic gold medallist typically talks about having “the burden of two nations on my again” however she has a always sunny disposition.

She remains to be very younger, but speaks eloquently about being dragged into geopolitical battle attributable to her resolution as an adolescent to compete for China regardless of having a deep appreciation for all of the issues rising up within the US gave her.

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Gu is already one of many biggest free skiers of all-time and is fiercely aggressive, but she places her greatest disappointments behind her with grace and humility then speaks to the hungry media for hours after competitions.

The circus that surrounds her is unattainable to grasp till you see it up shut.

On Monday Gu skied arguably the best slopestyle run of all-time solely to be trumped for gold by Swiss famous person Mathilde Gremaud, who was the one person who stood between Gu and an unthinkable gold medal sweep of the three free ski disciplines in Beijing. Gu was nonetheless simply 18 and had the crushing weight of expectation of China’s 1.4 billion individuals to cope with.

On most days, Gu would have accomplished the Olympic gold medal set together with her first run of the slopestyle ultimate in Livigno, but when Gremaud once more pipped her with an astonishing second run, the silver medallist for a second consecutive Video games brushed herself off and, with out being prompted, sung her biggest rival’s praises.

Earlier than that she approached a crowd of fanatical Chinese language followers screaming her identify and spent a number of minutes ensuring they knew how a lot she appreciated them. She stuffed up their cup, so they might depart the venue with a reminiscence cash cannot purchase. Some athletes refuse to grow to be the type of people that reinforce the phrase “you need to by no means meet your heroes”.

Watch the Winter Olympic Video games Milano Cortina 2026 stay and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, each occasion stay & on demand, each medal in 4K, and unique worldwide protection on Stan Sport.

It is with this context in thoughts that imaginative and prescient of Gu standing alongside Australian teen prodigy Indra Brown on a World Cup podium in December comes speeding again into view.

At simply 15, Brown had simply introduced herself as a famous person of the long run with an excellent halfpipe run that landed her a bronze medal. Whereas the Melburnian appears to be like at house within the pipe, it was immediately detectable that she was something however with a bottle of champagne in her hand.

It was a second that was very relatable to Gu and she or he leant over from the highest step of the rostrum to lend her protégé, and probably her subsequent long-term halfpipe rival, a serving to hand popping the cork.

“How cute was that?” Gu stated to Australian media, together with Extensive World of Sports activities, when requested within the early hours of Tuesday morning (AEDT) to discuss the rostrum second she shared with Brown.

“Champagne second, lovable. She could not work out the way to open her champagne, so I like went over and helped her open it.

“My first World Cup podium was once I was her age, once I was 15, and the identical factor occurred to me, however nobody helped me, so it was actually embarrassing.”

Even though Gu is among the many highest paid athletes on the earth, raking in additional than $30 million final 12 months in endorsements alone, she finds Brown relatable on a number of ranges.

Not solely had been each freakishly proficient youngsters who got champagne bottles in entrance of a digicam earlier than they knew what to do with them, they’ve each been guided by the identical coach, Jamie Melton, who helped Gu navigate the highlight at a younger age and is now mentoring Brown.

Gu describes the rising Aussie star as a “little me” and regardless of the present hole in profile, expertise and credentials on the world stage, respects her as a real potential risk to her standing because the undisputed queen of the pipe.

“We now have the identical coach who introduced me up round her age and now she’s working with him and so we’re very shut and really pleasant due to that,” Gu stated.

“But additionally her ski fashion jogs my memory a variety of myself, particularly within the pipe. The best way she grabs the axis she has within the pipe, going from slope to pipe I feel you actually see that type of like DNA shift, which is basically particular, it makes me actually joyful.

“I feel she’s going to be actually good for the way forward for ladies’s pipe snowboarding. I have been in search of somebody like that for some time and she or he, I feel, is the true deal. She’s the subsequent factor.”

It is not simply Gu who’s enthusiastic about Brown’s potential. Regardless of being one of many youngest rivals at Milano Cortina, the 16-year-old might legitimately be one of many few skiers within the subject able to springing a monumental upset within the pipe.

That absorbing match-up will start on Thursday morning (AEDT) and can carry to fruition one among Gu’s true passions – watching an adolescent emerge after refusing to evolve to the pressures of being an adolescent that always end in children being pushed out of their sport.

“Sports activities have introduced me such pleasure and such distinctive perspective in life, particularly as a younger lady,” Gu stated.

“The boldness it is instilled in me to compete in an excessive sport that is a male-dominated excessive sport, I imply you are actually pushing the boundaries of the human restrict.

“That (her silver medal efficiency on Monday) was the most effective slopestyle run I’ve ever accomplished … with the ability to do this additionally instils this degree of deep-seated confidence and I feel so many younger ladies might stand to learn from that.

“You see charges of ladies collaborating, ladies collaborating in sports activities drop off precipitously between the ages of 11 and 14, center college. And that is much less about being ‘oh, you need to be an expert athlete’, but it surely’s simply these unstated social pressures the place it turns into uncool or sports activities now not belong to you.

“However that is simply when ladies have to really feel extra assured, they should develop into themselves, they should belief themselves and love themselves and guess on themselves when every little thing’s on the road.”

The halfpipe competitors will set the stage for 2 younger ladies striving to push the bounds of what is attainable. One in all them simply occurs to be Australian.

Strap your self in.