She is without doubt one of the finest skiers on the planet and I used to be the backup first baseman on the varsity baseball crew, so the similarity solely goes to date. I do not observe sports activities aside from baseball, so I discovered of Gu just a few days in the past once I noticed an image of her on our shared alma mater’s Instagram web page bidding her “good luck as she represents China in her first Olympic Video games.”
Eileen Gu can also be not the primary American to compete for one more nation. It isn’t unusual for American athletes to symbolize international locations to which they’ve a household connection or ancestral tie in worldwide athletic competitions, together with within the
Olympics, the
World Cup and even the
World Baseball Classic.
Many American-born athletes who
compete for other nations accomplish that as a result of it provides them a higher alternative to make it to competitions just like the Olympics. And virtually none of them attracts consideration in the USA the best way Gu has. In Olympic competitors, examples abound, going again a long time, of athletes from everywhere in the world competing for different international locations — some after defecting to the USA from behind the Iron Curtain earlier than its fall, others as a result of their nations have been damaged by warfare, some as a result of they’ve married and emigrated elsewhere and nonetheless others as a result of they’re
looking for an easier path, competition-wise, to their Olympic berth.
Examine Eileen Gu’s expertise to that of Group Israel from the 2017 World Baseball Traditional. The crew was superb and managed to defeat the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan and even Cuba, however they did that with a roster made up virtually completely of
Americans, most of whom weren’t fairly ok to make the US crew.
Gu is completely different, athletically and in any other case. To begin with, she is clearly ok to ski for the American crew, however she selected China. No one moreover Gu can know for sure why she did this, however it’s clear from her public feedback that Gu identities strongly with each international locations and each cultures.
“I undoubtedly really feel as if I am simply as American as I’m Chinese language. I’m American when I’m within the US, I’m Chinese language when I’m in China. I have been outspoken about my gratitude to each the US and China for making me the particular person I’m,” she
said Tuesday at a information convention after she gained gold within the freestyle snowboarding large air competitors. (It is value noting that she mentioned this in response to a reporter’s
question about whether or not she’s nonetheless a US citizen, a query she didn’t deal with immediately.)
Provided that she was
brought up in the USA by a mom who raised Gu as a single mother or father after emigrating from China, that isn’t altogether stunning.
Extra hanging than Gu’s resolution to ski for China is the scrutiny it has gotten right here in the USA. Bearing in mind the depth of competitors between the 2 powers and acknowledging the legitimacy of the criticism of China for human rights abuses, that degree of focus nonetheless reveals extra about most of the scrutinizers than Gu herself. On this regard, Gu has grow to be one thing of a geopolitical Olympic Rorschach check.
For some, Gu is only a younger girl
caught between two countries making a troublesome resolution. For others, it’s laborious to not see the
financial side of this. Gu’s success has already added to her appreciable reputation in China. For instance, within the hours after profitable her first gold medal, Gu and her accomplishment have been by far the
most talked about topics on Chinese social media.
Critics on social media and commentary pages have
framed the choice to ski for China as Gu
turning her back on the nation that raised her and casting her lot with an authoritarian regime. Media retailers have portrayed her as a bratty Gen Zer who’s oblivious to the world round her. She could also be somewhat little bit of all this stuff, however she can also be not completely any of them. And plenty of of those opinions appear to be grounded in America’s frustration with an ascendant China relative to the USA — one thing for which Gu can’t blamed.
Simply as it’s not attainable to know the contretemps round Gu outdoors of the present geopolitical local weather, it’s equally not possible to disaggregate it from the present racial local weather in the USA. Elevated violence in opposition to Asian Individuals prior to now yr or two is expounded to efforts accountable Covid-19 on China and elevated tensions between the USA and China. Criticism of Gu happens on this context as properly (although in fact, Gu made her resolution to compete for China three years in the past, so whereas the criticism of her lives in that context, none of it seemingly influenced her selections). Central to a lot of that is
the notion that Gu is by some means ungrateful for what the USA has given her.
Eileen Gu is just the most recent athlete whose Olympic efficiency has been extremely politicized, however for a Chinese language American athlete with twin citizenship (sort of), that was
unavoidable. Perhaps as an alternative of getting offended at an 18-year-old, albeit one who graduated from a really fantastic highschool, extra individuals ought to look inward at what’s motivating that anger.
Whereas a lot of the discourse round Gu right here in the USA focuses on the politics, her citizenship and what she ought to or shouldn’t be discussing, in China, an adolescent is being appreciated for her extraordinary athletic accomplishment and is quickly changing into one of many largest sports activities stars within the nation. For the second, that’s the actual story.
