Eileen Gu

Biography

Eileen Feng Gu (born September 3, 2003), also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing (谷爱凌), is a Chinese-American freestyle skier and model. She has represented China in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events since the 2018–19 season. With three gold and three silver medals, Gu is the most decorated freestyle skier in Olympic history. Gu was born and raised in the United States. She began competing for China in 2019. At age 18, she 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. At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Gu won gold in women's halfpipe and two additional silver medals in big air and slopestyle, setting the Olympic medal record in freestyle skiing, surpassing all previous competitors regardless of gender. Time named Gu as one of the 100 most influential people in the world under its Pioneers category on its annual list in 2022. She was subsequently featured on the magazine's February 9, 2026, edition. She was the fourth-highest earning female athlete in the world in 2025. Gu won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year in 2023. She also co-hosted the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards alongside Novak Djokovic. This marks the first time that two athletes hosted the Laureus World Sports Awards.

== Early life and education == 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 to the United States. Her father is American and a Harvard University graduate. Her maternal grandfather was the chief electrical engineer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China. Yan studied chemistry and biochemistry and was a member of the short-track speed skating team at Peking University in the 1980s. After moving to the United States, she earned a master's degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at Auburn University and an MBA at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Yan raised her daughter as a single mother in San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood. At three years old, Gu began skiing in Lake Tahoe, where Yan once worked as a 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. She attended a mathematics cram school during her summers in Beijing and scored 1580 out of 1600 on the SAT. Gu earned early admittance to Stanford University 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. While at Stanford, she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and studied abroad at the University of Oxford's Magdalen College. An international relations major, Gu took time off in the 2025–26 academic year to prepare for the 2026 Winter Olympics. In June 2026, Gu graduated from Stanford University.

== Sports career ==

In 2021, Gu became the first woman to land a forward double cork 1440 in competition history.

=== Coaches and training === Gu's coaches have included Jamie Melton, head coach of the Chinese National Slopestyle and Big Air Training Team for the 2022 Winter Olympics, and Brad Prosser, who met Gu when she was ten. In 2018, he became the technical coach guide to the Chinese national team for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Her personal coach for the 2022 Olympics was Misra Noto Torniainen, the former coach of the Swiss freeski team. Torniainen coached Olympic medalists Sarah Höfflin and Mathilde Gremaud for the 2018 Winter Olympics. In early 2025, the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau released a public budget about allocating US$6.6 million for the training of Gu and fellow US-born athlete Zhu Yi ahead of the 2026 Milan games though later their names were removed from the document and articles on the topic were censored on several Chinese websites. The total payment from Beijing's sports bureau for Gu and Zhu was $14 million over the past three years prior to the 2026 games.

=== X Games ===

At the 2021 Winter X Games, Gu won a bronze medal in Big Air and two gold medals in SuperPipe and Slopestyle, becoming the first rookie to win a gold medal in Women's Ski SuperPipe, the first rookie to medal in three events, and the first athlete representing China to win a gold medal at the X Games. Gu withdrew from the 2023 Winter X Games due to a heavy crash in training where she injured her knee. At the 2024 Winter X Games, Gu won gold in SuperPipe despite injuring her right hip during the X Games Slopestyle training. She wrote "Pain is Temporary" on her hand, and showed it to the cameras during the finals. Due to the pain, she did not participate in Slopestyle.

=== World Championships ===