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https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/I-loved-her-motivation-What-Eileen-Gu-told-16911072.php

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle wrote a positive story about Eileen Gu! Perhaps we should write in to thank reporter Ann Killion. 2-12-22.

Not bad for the MSM/Chron, but of course, there is the obligatory slur–staying on the right side of the CPC devils is even harder than getting Olympic Gold:Gu is straddling a slippery geopolitical slope at high altitude with little room for error. She is golden now in China, but if the San Francisco-born woman runs afoul of Chinese authorities, her world could quickly change. Look no further than the case of tennis star Peng Shuai, who made accusations against a high-ranking party official, then disappeared for a few weeks and is now seen at the Olympics in tightly controlled conditions.

Absurd. It’s the 死鬼佬 that are hounding her every step, waiting to pounce on her.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/annkillion/article/I-loved-her-motivation-What-Eileen-Gu-told-16911072.php

‘I loved her motivation’: What Eileen Gu told her S.F. circle about picking China
Eileen Gu of China performs a trick ahead of the Women’s Freestyle Skiing Freeski Big Air Final on Day 4 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Big Air Shougang on Febr. 8 in Beijing.

Feb. 12, 2022

Before she became a global sensation and geopolitical lightning rod, Eileen Gu was a girl who liked to run through the streets of San Francisco.

“She was an amazing cross-country runner,” said Carin Marrs, who coached Gu in cross-country and track at University High School. “It was an outlet for her.”

Gu, 18, might need a nice long run right about now. She has become the face of the Beijing Olympics — these are being called the Gu Games — which has put her in the crosshairs of controversy. The freestyle skier is favored for a gold sweep of her three events, the second of which is this weekend, with slopestyle qualifying at 6 p.m. PST on Saturday and the final on Sunday.

Known as “the Snow Princess,” Gu is wildly famous and popular in China, her face plastered everywhere, thanks to her extensive portfolio of lucrative endorsements. She is extolled for her beauty — she has a side career as a model — and her brains. She became the first University High student to graduate in three years and will enter Stanford this fall, after deferring for a year.

BEIJING, CHINA – FEBRUARY 08: Gold medallist Ailing Eileen Gu of Team China poses with their medal during the Women’s Freestyle Skiing Freeski Big Air medal ceremony on Day 4 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Beijing Medal Plaza on February 08, 2022 in Beijing, China.

PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 23: Eileen Gu, wearing a white jumpsuit, silver mini bag and silver heels, is seen outside Kenzo fashion show on Day 6 during the Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 202> on June 23, 2019 in Paris, France.

Left: Gold medallist Ailing Eileen Gu of Team China poses with their medal during the Women’s Freestyle Skiing Freeski Big Air medal ceremony on Day 4 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Beijing Medal Plaza on February 08, 2022 in Beijing, China.

Right: Eileen Gu, wearing a white jumpsuit, silver mini bag and silver heels, is seen outside Kenzo fashion show on Day 6 during Paris Fashion Week on June 23, 2019, in Paris.

But back in the United States, the San Francisco native has come under fire for choosing to compete for China, her mother’s country, and refusing to answer questions about her citizenship status. In more hyperbolic corners of the media-sphere she is called a traitor and a tool for communist China.

After she won her first gold medal in the big air event, Sports Illustrated wrote, “Gu got her gold medal and China got its pawn.”

For those who knew her in high school, the explosion of Gu’s fame and the ensuing controversy have been startling to observe.

“It’s insane,” said Ella Shenkar, who became good friends with Gu while they were teammates at University and who is now a junior at Swarthmore. “I hear people talking about her and I want to say, ‘Hey, I know that person.’

“And the political stuff is crazy.”

Before Gu started at University in the fall of 2017, Marrs got an email from the freshman’s mother, Yan Gu, explaining that her daughter might have some conflicts. So Marrs did a little research.

“Oh, she’s not just kind of good, she’s a potential Olympian,” Marrs learned of Gu, who learned to ski on Tahoe slopes at 3 years old and joined Northstar’s freeskiing team at 8.

But Marrs appreciated how committed and present Gu was with the team, even though her skiing schedule kept her away at times.

Eileen Gu of San Francisco University High school during a track event at San Francisco City College in April 2018.

Gold medalist Eileen Gu, of China, reacts after her final run during the women’s freestyle skiing big air finals of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in Beijing.

Eileen Gu of San Francisco University High school during a track event at San Francisco City College in April 2018.

Gold medalist Eileen Gu of China reacts after her final run during the women’s freestyle skiing big air finals of the 2022 Winter Olympics on Feb. 8 in Beijing.

“She made every effort to come to practices,” Marrs said. “She rearranged competitions to be with us.”

And, sometimes, when she couldn’t make practices, she and Marrs would go on runs together, near Gu’s Sea Cliff neighborhood.

Shenkar was two years older than Gu, but the two became friends through running and studying together.

“She was very energetic, very funny, super easy to talk to,” Shenkar said. “She didn’t care about the usual high school social stuff. She was very down to earth.”

Gu helped University to a second-place finish at the California state cross-country meet in Fresno her freshman year. The next year, in Shenkar’s senior year, Gu was torn. The state meet would fall one day after a major skiing event in Austria. Forced to pick, she chose to make her debut on the FIS World Cup, launching her competitive career at the sport’s elite level.

“She was really worried about disappointing her teammates,” Shenkar said. “She was a very good friend.”

The next year, her last running for University, Gu expressed her intent to Marrs to make the state meet instead of the World Cup. But a concussion kept her from competing in either.

Eileen Gu of China competes during women’s freeski big air final at Big Air Shougang in Beijing on Feb. 8.
Eileen Gu of China competes during women’s freeski big air final at Big Air Shougang in Beijing on Feb. 8.

“She was willing to rearrange this thing that was her ticket to success to do this sport with her high school,” Marrs said.

Like their coach, Shenkar also would run with Gu away from the team. Long runs led to long conversations, and both Marrs and Shenkar learned a lot about Gu’s skiing and her dreams as they logged miles.

And neither is surprised she chose to compete for China, a decision she made when she was 15. Gu has visited Beijing, her mother’s country, almost every summer of her life, speaks fluent Mandarin and has frequently said that when she’s in the U.S., she’s American, but when she’s in China — where she is known as Gu Ailing — she’s Chinese.

“We talked about it many times,” Marrs said. “I loved her motivation behind it. The way she expressed it to me was that there were plenty of female role models for young girls in snow sports here, but they didn’t have any in China. She had a strong desire to use her status as a role model for young girls.”

Gu expressed the same point to Shenkar.

“She always said the same thing, that she was looking to inspire Chinese girls,” Shenkar said. “I didn’t think there was any political intention.”

A view of an advertisement featuring Eileen Gu, also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, at a bus stop in Shanghai on Feb. 9.

NBC aired a video of Gu giving a speech as a seventh-grader at the all-girls Katherine Delmar Burke School in San Francisco’s Sea Cliff, wearing her uniform and extolling the importance of sports and Title IX. She has stayed on message for years.

But her motivations are viewed with increasing skepticism as tensions between her two countries have grown and as her fame and wealth has expanded.

Her camp tries to control her message — Yan Gu would not speak to the New York Times unless she could review the article before publication, which was declined — and Gu avoids tough topics in interviews.

That includes answering questions about her citizenship. The IOC requires athletes to hold the passport of their home country, but China does not allow dual citizenship. Whether Gu has given up her American citizenship is unclear.

Gu is straddling a slippery geopolitical slope at high altitude with little room for error. She is golden now in China, but if the San Francisco-born woman runs afoul of Chinese authorities, her world could quickly change. Look no further than the case of tennis star Peng Shuai, who made accusations against a high-ranking party official, then disappeared for a few weeks and is now seen at the Olympics in tightly controlled conditions.

Gu is not the first American to compete for another country. It happens routinely, but usually with athletes who would struggle to make a U.S. team and find a path to the Olympics through their parents’ country. Not with an athlete considered the best in the world at what she does.

Gold medallist China’s Gu Ailing Eileen holds her medal on the podium during the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air victory ceremony at the Beijing Medals Plaza in Beijing on February 8, 2022.

China’s Eileen Gu watches the women’s halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China.

Left: Gold medalist Eileen Gu of China holds her medal on the podium during the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air victory ceremony at the Beijing Medals Plaza in Beijing on Feb. 8.

Those who knew Gu before she became a global sensation think she is strong enough to handle her unusual, high-pressure situation.

Gu’s Olympic schedule
Eileen Gu will have two more chances to add to her medal collection after winning gold in the big air competition last week. Here are her events, with all times Pacific:

Slopestyle: Qualifying, 6 p.m. Saturday (USA Network); finals, 5:30 p.m. Sunday

Halfpipe: Qualifying, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday; finals, 5:30 p.m. Thursday

“She has handled things with as much grace as you can possibly imagine,” Marrs said. “I don’t know many adults who would be able to juggle all that she does and have such a relaxed attitude. She was always a unique person, humble, focused and present with what she was doing. She’s able to absorb a lot of attention without becoming an obnoxious personality.

“I always knew,” Marrs said, “that she was going to do big things.”

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist.
Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com
Twitter: @annkillion

Written By Ann Killion

Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County, Ann Killion has covered Bay Area sports for more than a quarter of a century. An award-winning columnist and a veteran of 11 Olympics, several World Cups and the Tour de France, Ann joined The Chronicle in 2012. Ann has worked for the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. She is a New York Times best-selling author, having co-written “Solo: A Memoir of Hope” with soccer star Hope Solo,”Throw Like A Girl” with softball player Jennie Finch and two middle-grade books on soccer, “Champions of Women’s Soccer” and “Champions of Men’s Soccer.” She was named California Sportswriter of the Year in 2014, 2017 and 2018. She has two children and lives in Mill Valley.

Israel Jiang: One of the coaches of mainland China’s winter Olympics team, Mr. Ahn Hyun-soo is now being slammed by Korean netzens as “traitor”. 安賢洙是叛徒嗎？

Long story make it short: Mr. An’s current namebein Viktor An. He also has a Russian name Виктор Ан. He was south korea’s skating athlete with three gold medals in winter Olympics. Then he was not recruited into the national team due to injury. He then became a naturalized citizen of Russia and later once again obtained three gold medals in winter Olympics. After his retirement he was hired by China as a coach.

Should he be blamed as a traitor to his motherland?

中國大陸滑冰代表隊的教練之一是安賢洙，近日在北京冬奧期間，他被南韓網民痛斥為「叛徒」！

長話短說：安賢洙曾是南韓滑冰選手，且曾在冬奧賽事一屆奪下三面金牌。後來訓練時受傷而未再入選國家代表隊，他憤而轉籍俄羅斯，改名Viktor An，俄名為Виктор Ан。並在下一屆冬奧再奪三面金牌。他退休後獲聘為中國大陸的滑冰教練至今。

如此，安賢洙該被指責為叛國嗎？連他留在南韓的家人也要被霸凌？

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Today’s San Francisco Chronicle wrote a positive story about Eileen Gu! Perhaps we should write in to thank reporter Ann Killion

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Didn’t US said Xinjiang Slave Labor Genocide?

US masterminded the Ukraine crisis with regime change in 2014

Israel Jiang: One of the coaches of mainland China’s winter Olympics team, Mr. Ahn Hyun-soo is now being slammed by Korean netzens as “traitor”.