Freeskiier Eileen Gu enjoys 'deserved' victory lap

Not often do Olympians get to take a victory lap, yet for freeskier Eileen Gu, it could not have come at a better time. Despite strong performances from Canadians Cassie Sharpe and Rachael Karker, neither eclipsed the scores of her first two runs.

So when Gu, 18, heard the stadium announcer call her a "two-time Olympic gold medalist," she couldn't hold back the tears.

"That was just, wow. I just couldn't believe it," the American-born Chinese skier told reporters at the Genting Snow Park in Jiangjiakou. "It was this amazing feeling of resolution, like letting out this super deep breath that I've been holding for so long. Everything, all those little moments, added together and paid off."

Given how much time she had spent in the spotlight and the mixed coverage of her first Olympics, she felt she had earned an easy ride. So with the wind gusting and a victory lap before her, Gu decided not to do any tricks, but just sail up and down the halfpipe.

"It's the first victory lap I've ever taken and I felt like I deserved it," she said.

Scrutinized superstar

Hardly any athlete has been more in the focus at this Olympics than Gu. Her choice to represent China, despite being born and raised in the United States, has been heavily scrutinized — both by the media and on social media.

On the slopes, she has delivered. After winning the big air competition with a trick she'd never attempted before, she took silver in the slopestyle before soaring to gold in the halfpipe. She is the first action sports athlete to collect three medals at an Olympics, the youngest female freeskier to win a gold medal, not to mention the first athlete representing China to win a freeski medal at all.

Physically, she feels fine, she said, but she did not hide the fact that the experience had taken a toll on her both mentally and emotionally.

"It's been very difficult; I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to pretend and say it was easy because it wasn't," Gu said. "It has been just a rollercoaster of emotions, partially because it's so high risk/reward and I know exactly how much is riding on my performance."

And her performance has undoubtedly made her even more of a superstar than she was entering the Games. After her gold in the big air, sales in her red Anta ski suit skyrocketed twenty-fold on Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com, according to Reuters news agency.

But the added attention has also increased the number of her critics, especially those who feel she is ignoring China's human rights abuses. Those critics, Gu said, are something with which she has had to come to terms; after her first Olympic experience, she now feels mentally stronger and therefore more confident.

"For the people who don't support me, I feel like I've actually genuinely made peace with it," she said. "I feel as though I've dismissed it, because if they don't feel like I'm doing good in the world, then they can go do better."

What's next for Eileen Gu

In the short term, she plans to deal with the mental and emotional toll these Games have taken on her with a couple of life's simple pleasures; after the halfpipe, she mentioned having lamb hot pot with her grandma and taking a nap. Part of her wants to lie in a small dark room with her phone on airplane mode or take time out in a sensory deprivation tank.

But slightly longer term, she is also set to begin her first semester at Stanford University in California, her mother's alma mater. She wants to continue her work in the fashion industry, continue "being a nerd" and maybe get some of her writing published.

When asked by DW if she intends to take a break from the slope, something snowboard colleagues Chloe Kim, Shaun White and Ayumu Hirano did after the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, she didn't commit to an answer.

"I'm a very competitive person and I'm also a very goal-oriented person. So the answer to that, in short, is I don't know," she said. "I'm going to do what makes me happy. I still love skiing. I'd love to continue skiing."

Given her popularity in China and the polarizing coverage around her, Gu doesn't look to be going anywhere. For now, she's simply basking in her victory lap.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold