: China’s Eileen Gu to Serve as Ambassador for U.S. Winter Olympic Bid #WorldNEWS Chinas Olympic freestyle skiing champion Eileen Gu announced Tuesday at the TIME100 Summit that she will serve as an

China’s Eileen Gu to Serve as Ambassador for U.S. Winter Olympic Bid #WorldNEWS
Chinas Olympic freestyle skiing champion Eileen Gu announced Tuesday at the TIME100 Summit that she will serve as an ambassador for the U. S. bid to host the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
I think thats this beautiful example of globalism and of the capacity that we can use skiing and we can use sport and we can use winter sport to connect people, she told TIME senior sports correspondent Sean Gregory in New York City. Salt Lake specifically wants to become a global destination for athletes everywhere to come train there and they want to incorporate 15 new countries into the Winter Olympics. I think thats something thats really beautiful and Ive always stood for that and so Im really honored to be a part of the whole thing.
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In a time of great geopolitical tension between the United States and China, a prominent Chinese figure helping a U. S. cause is rare. Having somebody with Eileens fantastic profile worldwide, particularly with the youth, is just a dream come true for us, says Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games.
The 18-year-old Gu said she doesnt regret representing China rather than the U. S. at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Gu became the first extreme sports athlete to win three medals—two of them gold—at a single Olympic Games earlier this year. But her success was accompanied by controversy surrounding her decision to ski for China in the Olympics despite being born and raised in the U. S.
Gu, whose mother is from Beijing, announced on Instagram in 2019 that she would be competing for China in the 2022 Olympics to help inspire millions of young people in her mother’s home country and unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations.
While Gu has been widely embraced inside China, she has faced scrutiny for dodging questions about her nationality and whether she still holds U. S. citizenship. China does not allow dual citizenship, but there is no record of her having renounced her American citizenship.
Every day when I start looking at my social media and I see DMs and I see hundreds of young girls sending me messages sayingBecause of you, I feel like I am better as a person. When I read messages like that, it galvanizes me too, she said on Tuesday. Its this positive reinforcing cycle in which its not really an idol and a fan, its friends moving together. And its been this incredible opportunity worldwide. Its not just in China. Its in the U. S, its in Canada, its in Europe. Its in all these places where free skiing wasnt visible before and now it is. And thats the bottom line.