On a mission for global communication and a healthy lifestyle-Xinhua

Gu Ailing of China poses for the duration of the awarding ceremony immediately after winning the women’s freeski halfpipe at Zhangjiakou Medals Plaza of the Wintertime Olympics in Zhangjiakou, north China’s Hebei Province, Feb. 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin)

As an American-born Chinese, Olympic gold medalist Gu Ailing hopes to spread a wholesome way of life and bring the entire world nearer alongside one another.

by Martina Fuchs

GENEVA, April 2 (Xinhua) — Subsequent her historic efficiency at the Beijing 2022 Winter season Olympics nabbing two gold medals and one particular silver, Chinese freestyle skier and sporting activities feeling Gu Ailing suggests she’s on a new mission to spread a healthful way of living and convey the earth closer collectively.

Questioned about how she feels about becoming a position design and acquiring motivated thousands and thousands of Chinese to study winter sporting activities and hit the slopes, the world’s ideal freestyle skier and China’s new sporting activities icon shared her views with Xinhua in an job interview by way of video clip connection.

“It’s a huge honor to be capable to have the arrive at that I have now, to be ready to have so a lot of people who it’s possible have in no way even heard of freestyle skiing before, and to be able to hear it for the first time from me, a young biracial woman,” she reported on the sidelines of an occasion in Beijing by luxury Swiss watch company IWC Schaffhausen.

A person of the most viewed athletes at this year’s Winter season Games, Gu turned the initially freestyle skier to earn 3 medals at a person Olympics: halfpipe gold, major air gold, and slopestyle silver.

“My major target is to encourage more youngsters in China, specially younger women to hear about absolutely free snowboarding and to attempt it out for on their own,” the new Olympian mentioned.

Skiers from Heilongjiang Province participate in a education session at Yabuli Ski Vacation resort in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 21, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Jianfei)

In accordance to China’s Countrywide Bureau of Statistics, more than 346 million Chinese people today have participated in winter sports actions considering the fact that Beijing’s prosperous bid for the 2022 Wintertime Olympics in 2015.

Past Sporting activities: ON A Even bigger MISSION

Gu, who is also a manner product and incoming University college student and counts 6.5 million followers on China’s Weibo and 1.5 million on Instagram, has captivated an ever-increasing list of Chinese and international shopper models that are eager to have her as an ambassador.

Intercontinental makes this sort of as French luxurious conglomerate Louis Vuitton and Chinese sportswear maker Anta are previously doing the job with her, when international endorsements include names ranging from IWC Schaffhausen, Victoria’s Magic formula, Tiffany & Co. to Oakley.

She underlined that she required to use her substantial social media next to make a constructive impact in culture.

“I’m concentrating on working with my voice and the platform that I got from the Olympics to be equipped to carry on marketing snowboarding and a balanced life-style that involves changing natural beauty requirements, marketing self esteem and wellness as an alternative of starving on your own or not currently being ready to go outside. This is part of my message proper now, and I’m talking out on it when I can.”

“I normally want to discuss out about overall health. I want to encourage athletics. And I just want everyone to be self-confident and satisfied,” Gu said, incorporating that she could also take into consideration organizing competitions and camps for girls in China even more down her highway.

Athletics HAVE NO BOUNDARIES

“At any time because I was minor, I have usually claimed I am Chinese though I am in China, and I am American when I am in the U.S.. I feel as while equally international locations have contributed equally to creating the person that I am today. You can find no feeling of levels of competition. There is no sense of one particular is better than the other,” she highlighted.

 Gu Ailing (front) parades for the duration of the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Game titles at the Countrywide Stadium in Beijing, cash of China, Feb. 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Ga)

“It genuinely is about appreciating distinctive sides of every a person and implementing the most applicable and the most, the areas I can find out the most from every single society and I assume that is what has supplied me the perspective that I have. It is really offered me the cultural resiliency that I have, and it truly is provided me an appreciation for unique cultures all over the entire world. In that feeling, I feel a deep sense of regard and appreciation for both equally cultures.”

Gu, quickly switching among her Beijing dialect and California accent for the duration of the job interview, mentioned that she hoped to construct additional bridges amongst unique cultures via sports.

“Sporting activities have no boundaries. They you should not have age, gender, race or cultural boundaries. All people can take part. That is the best way to kind a interaction between different countries, and to foster interconnection.”

Enthusiasm FOR Food items

Gu has also created headlines for her enjoy for foods, following her video clip of munching on a standard Chinese snack “jiucai hezi,” a pan-fried dumpling crammed with chives and vermicelli noodles, when waiting around for her score in the slopestyle qualifying round went viral on Chinese social media.

Gu Ailing eats “jiucai hezi” throughout women’s freeski slopestyle qualification of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, north China’s Hebei Province, Feb. 14, 2021. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin)

“Dumplings are my favorite Chinese meals, but it has to be the handmade kind. For Western meals, just about anything with truffles, seriously. I have been a truffle supporter without end. I journey with my possess white truffle oil.”

“Any time that I invested in China, I’m constantly mastering extra. Due to the fact China’s these kinds of a assorted place with so several regional dialects, different types of foodstuff, unique cultural nuances,” Gu emphasized.

“1 of the points I like the most about China is food items and primarily food tradition. Like the major spinning desk and most people has the dishes on the desk and you all share almost everything. That’s so much improved than just ordering 1 dish.”

“You can find so a lot far more diversity and more choices to consider everything and the sense of shared culture and shared time and shared satisfaction of food is a thing that I feel is deeply representative of the Chinese society,” she discussed.