Gu Ailing, who has just turned 18, is making many histories in the field of skiing she loves. Gu Ailing said that he "wants to be a bridge", a bridge connecting sports and people.
Text | One last
Edit | Zhou Wei
Operational | Trixy
18-year-old Gu Ailing suddenly broke into our lives. Although she has just come of age, her experience is already very legendary - the world's top professional skier, who was admitted to Stanford University with a high SAT score after graduating from high school early, and is also a new favorite in the fashion industry. People gave her a new title, "Genius Girl", but Gu Ailing said, "I only have 0.1% talent." ”
Behind the "0.1% talent" is Gu Ailing's total love for skiing. For those few seconds in the air, she said she was like a bird, "flying up and then landing," a taste of freedom she loved.
It is hard to imagine that a girl who has not yet entered college, with talent and love, has won so many awards in international competitions - the Fidesia Freestyle Ski U-Track World Cup, the X Games two gold and one bronze, the freestyle ski world championships two gold and one bronze...
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be the first time gu Ailing has participated in a major event at home, and huge attention has once again focused on this girl. What kind of life track does an 18-year-old talented athlete have behind it?
love
When skiing, Gu Ailing feels that "in the air, time will slow down" – although a game, such as a big jump, is only about 12 seconds long. Relax your body, slide down the snow slope, skateboard at high speed, until you rush to the top of the big jump platform, and then the muscles of the whole body are tense, the whole person is flying in the air, followed by a flip, a swing, she can clearly see her every action, less than 5 seconds, landing.
▲ Photo / Visual China
"The brain is in front, the action is in the back", before each action, Gu Ailing has thought about "even a thousand times".
Gu Ailing has studied piano for 9 years, she will break down a set of ski movements into musical rhythms, "just like practicing the piano", each action corresponds to a note, and the rhythm is undulating and connecting the flow and undertaking of the movements.
This memory made her look more like she was enjoying the game. In the early December of the past year, Gu Ailing created a history of women's players completing front flips in freestyle skiing competitions for two weeks plus four weeks of rotation, and this set of ultra-difficult actions, Gu Ailing learned to use only three weeks.
It seems to be like the image she conveys to the outside world, if you split Gu Ailing's life like a decomposition action, her every step is perfect — admitted to Stanford University, won dozens of gold medals in ski competitions, and appeared on the cover of fashion magazines many times, especially when the protagonist was only 18 years old.
People called her a "gifted girl," but in an interview she said, "I'm only 0.1 percent talented." ”
For the remaining 99.9%, Gu Ailing's entire life can almost be described as a game.
In Gu Ailing's life, the companionship of her grandmother and mother is one of the most important parts, and Gu Ailing herself admits that the influence of these two women on her can be described as huge.
Grandma is a very "competitive spirit" person. Coaxing the young Gu Ailing to sleep, she would say "the game to see who falls asleep first." When Gu Ailing grew up, it was time to go to school, and Grandma described this as a competition with children to compete in multiplication skills. Once when she participated in a school running competition, she was left behind by the first place, and when she turned the corner, she saw her grandmother, who was only 1 meter 5 tall, standing in a group of tall parents, without fear, her arms flexed and clenched her fists, and organized all the parents to shout, "Eileen, NO.1!" Eileen，NO.1！ ”
"It turned out that I really became number one." Gu Ailing was still surprised to think about it now.
Gu Ailing's love for skiing stems from her mother. Mama Guyan is a ski enthusiast, and at the age of 3, she was first taken to the ski slope by her mother.
Soon, Gu Yan found that Gu Ailing's learning speed was beyond her imagination. At the age of 4, Gu Ailing was already free to walk through the coniferous forest, wearing a pink ski suit, screaming and leaping over a small snowdrift, and even completing professional actions such as cat jumping.
At the age of 8, "flying straight down" from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain could not satisfy Gu Ailing. For safety, "skating a little slower", Gu Yan sent her daughter to the professional ski team in the Lake Tahoe area, at that time, the mother and daughter were not even very clear about the concept of freestyle skiing, Gu Yan only knew that "not speed skating, not so dangerous".
It wasn't until Gu Ailing did the first backflip in front of her mother, volleying up, head to the ground, body curled, instantly completing a beautiful curve, the mother exclaimed. "She suddenly found out that it was too late, but it was too late, and I was already in love with skiing."
endeavor
After confirming Gu Ailing's love for skiing, her mother began to list plans for Gu Ailing, "a goal, how to do it, how to decompose."
In order to balance her studies and skiing, Gu Ailing learned how to allocate time from an early age. Until 2021, Gu Ailing has been a full-time high school student, and only on weekends can she have full energy skiing, "while others have 5 days".
She lives with her family in San Francisco, USA, and after joining the ski team, her mother will take Gu Ailing from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe for two weekends to practice skiing. The journey across the Rocky Mountains took 4 hours, and Gu Ailing learned to use that time to "sleep when you were a child and write homework when you grew up." When the car pulled into the snow-covered Lake Tahoe, she devoted all her time to skiing.
Ms. Gu's home is filled with all the photos and medals from childhood to adulthood, and by the time she was 16, the medals were already on a table — she roughly counted them, probably more than 50.
In 2019, Gu Ailing officially represented the Chinese team in various competitions, a decision that caused a lot of shock in the sports world at that time. In an interview with the media, Gu Ailing said that the direct reason for her decision was that in 2019, China will vigorously popularize mass ice and snow sports as a policy, and she hopes that her experience "can encourage thousands of Chinese to participate in skiing."
It is difficult for ordinary people to imagine that a girl who has not yet entered the university can win so many awards in international competitions. At the FIS Freestyle Ski U-Track World Cup on December 31, 2021, Gu Ailing won the championship. Before that, her achievements were already quite dazzling. In January 2021, she competed in the X Games for the first time, winning gold medals in slope obstacle courses, U-shaped tracks, and bronze on the big jump. Then, at the Freestyle Ski World Championships in March, she played with an injury and "re-enacted" the record of two golds and one bronze at the World Extreme Games.
▲ 21/22 Freestyle Ski U-Shaped Venue World Cup Canada: Gu Ailing won the first crown of the New Year. Photo / Visual China
People began to pay attention to Gu Ailing, who seemed to be "very relaxed" in everything she did. But every time Gu Ailing heard a similar question, he would laugh and retort, "It's not easy at all!" ”
Behind the near-perfect performance, it takes extraordinary effort. Gu Ailing's tall stature is not an advantage in skiing, which means that it will be more difficult for her to complete the air rotation compared to other players. "It's easy to see the game, (but) training is very, very tiring, training from 9am to 9pm." Forced by time, she often had to eat on the ski lift, and below it was the slowly passing snow – she didn't have time to appreciate it, because in less than a few minutes, she was back in the snow field.
Pain is even more inevitable. As a high-risk sport, falling on skiing is a common occurrence. When she was 12 years old, Gu Ailing's collarbone was broken, and now when she touches it, "there is another protrusion." Before the World Championships in March 2021, she broke her right hand again, causing a crushing fracture, a ligament fracture in her thumb, and even a short period of time can no longer hold the familiar snowball battle.
Losing a snowball fight means finding new support points, and every flip at high altitude becomes particularly dangerous. She was not lightly injured, "people in the hospital said that they had to be cast." Gu Ailing played a plaster cast for a month while continuing to train until shortly before the World Championships. "This [process] is rarely said, it is done quietly by yourself."
After winning the gold medals in the women's U-shaped field and slope obstacle course, the big jump final of the third world championships was a key challenge for her.
Before the game, she prepared a more stable set of actions, and under the premise that the opponent increased the difficulty, this set of actions has basically lost the possibility of winning. Despite the injury, Gu Ailing immediately decided to "do a move that had never been done before" - a left and right double flip, a move that had just been learned in the latest snow season and had never experienced any event, which helped Gu Ailing win a bronze medal, and she also set a record for three medals for one person at the World Freestyle Ski championships.
"Always on the Road"
In those few seconds in the air, Gu Ailing said that he was like a bird, "flying up and then landing on the ground." In her opinion, the feeling of flying and the feeling of happiness may be the most addictive part of skiing, after all, this is a complete experience of walking.
This girl, who was just over 18 years old, often puts "freedom" on her lips. During the race, she can meet snow chasers around the world, "meet friends in Australia in Austria, meet friends in Sweden in New Zealand, meet friends in China in Canada".
In Ma Dong's interview, halfway through the interview, she touched the fruit plate, smiled and said, "I'm a little hungry," and then quickly picked up the pastry and ate it. Gu Ailing has the imagination that should be at this age, she likes sports, socializing, fashion, and even writing that seems unrelated. She is taking time out to write her fifth diary, with the ambition to have the opportunity to become "a journalist or a foodie."
The outside world's evaluation of Gu Ailing is "all-round", but this means that she needs to constantly make choices. The first big decision happened between running and skiing. Few people know that Gu Ailing's running talent is higher than skiing. On the wall next to the bed in the bedroom, hung her race dress and number plate, "half of which were running".
Before a california-wide running competition, the coach said directly to Gu Ailing, "If you don't come, we won't be able to reach the final." But the timing of the race clashed with an important freestyle skiing competition, and she had to make a choice and give up, "I finally chose skiing, and from this time on, I began to think of skiing as a profession".
Gu Ailing gradually understood that the greatest ability she had to learn was "balance". Skiing is a game of control that requires a lot of skill. She indulges in the freedom that comes with skiing, but also learns the checks and balances behind the sport – just like her life, "life revolves around one thing, but it's rare how to juggle all aspects".
Later conflicts of choice often occurred between studying and skiing, after all, she was still a high school student. During the SAT season in September 2020, she was training on the European ski slopes and could only look for a European exam room. After determining the Swiss examination room, when Gu Ailing took the time from training to fly to Geneva, it was close to 12 o'clock in the evening, and the next morning because of heavy rain, the car at about 7 o'clock was delayed, she could only run to the test room in the rain, her whole body was soaked, "when the test room was about to close, I went in."
After the test, she immediately flew back to the snow field to train. "Time is tight in life, always on the road, there are always unknown things happening," she called "people on the road". Every hasty trip, a big snowboard bag, a big bag of clothes, and then take a different means of transportation, to the snow field, school or shuttle between countries - this constitutes her most ordinary daily life.
This kind of day lasted for several years, and the reason for perseverance has always been because of love, the presence of skiing, which makes everything meaningful. "Without skiing, learning can become very uninteresting. But I thought I was going to go skiing next week, so I should study now. While skiing, I should enjoy it. ”
Her life has always been full of variables, but Gu Ailing feels that "it is a wonderful thing to synthesize them", which requires a lot of concentration. The high school history teacher said she was an exemplary student who was "very focused in class, even when skiing." When she was very young, Gu Ailing asked her mother what the best and most difficult universities in the world were, and the answer was Stanford, that is, her mother's alma mater. "Since then, I've thought I had to go to Stanford."
An 18-year-old top athlete, in addition to her pure love of skiing, strong control has almost completed her entire track life. Sleeping for 10 hours a night is Gu Ailing's habit of not moving since childhood. She will concentrate on anything, and if there is not enough time, she can accurately control the social activity time between 15% and 20%. In the end, she successfully received an acceptance letter from Stanford University, along with a steady stream of medals.
▲ Photo / Gu Ailing Weibo
Get together because of love
Gu Ailing, who has just turned 18, is making many histories. Among the top ten Chinese athletes in 2021 by the Sports Department of Xinhua News Agency, Gu Ailing is on the list.
The upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics will be Gu Ailing's first home game. As one of the representatives of the new generation of athletes, Gu Ailing and her skiing story, as well as all the passion she pours into skiing, coincide with jd retail's long-standing concept of "living up to every love".
On January 4, on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics, JD Retail officially announced the signing of Gu Ailing as the brand spokesperson.
In fact, Gu Ailing's encounter with JD Retail is not accidental. Xu Lei, president of Jingdong Group, believes that this is an era of love, because of love, people create more wonderful and have more possibilities. Gu Ailing can achieve today's results, stemming from the wrestling and hard work in the snow again and again, Jingdong Retail has also gone through continuous accumulation and efforts, step by step, to have today's achievements.
In JD Retail, we also see more similarities with Gu Ailing. The 18-year-old girl Gu Ailing has her own multiple identities, and Jingdong Retail is also in a variety of fields. In the past year, the scale of Jingdong's new product releases increased by more than 150% year-on-year, the turnover of new products of more than 25,000 brands increased by more than 100% year-on-year, and a number of Jingdong retail innovation formats, including Jingdong MALL, have also landed.
Because of love, there is perseverance. Gu Ailing has never forgotten her original intention in her track life and bravely moved forward. In the past 2021, Jingdong retail has "become more and more calm", and the omni-channel strategy has continued to advance, deeply cultivating the industrial ecology, resonating the real economy, building a panoramic ecology, and practicing the retail ideal map of "selling all the goods under the whole world" and "selling goods all over the world".
Gu Ailing said that he is an ordinary person who pursues his dreams, and his biggest feeling about skiing is "not for achievements", but "fun". If possible, she wants to "be a bridge," a bridge between sports and people, "sports are the universal language."
Just like Gu Ailing's love for skiing has nothing to do with the arena, stemming from purity, JD Retail has never forgotten its original intention of entrepreneurship and has always adhered to its own righteous values. From the Zhongguancun counter to the world's top 500, JD.com's original intention has not changed. JD Retail has always hoped that in the future, it can grow together with millions of physical merchants to better serve users and provide users with the ultimate shopping experience.
Gu Ailing and JD Retail have a temperament that coincides with love, persistence and long-termism, which eventually brings the two together. On the road of crossing the cycle and creating value, JD Retail joins hands with partners to promote industrial integration and promote the real economy. While the outside world pays more attention to sales figures, for JD.com and the industry, what is more important is the stronger and more sustained upward force behind it.
Today, Jingdong Retail and Gu Ailing are gathered because of love, and will walk together because of love, go to the future together, and achieve greatness.
▲ Photo / JD.com
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