On the morning of February 8, at the final of the freestyle ski women's big jump at the Beijing Winter Olympics, China's Gu Ailing challenged his own limits and won the first gold medal in the snow event of the Chinese Winter Olympics with the world's most difficult action of the 1620-degree reverse foot deflection body in the third round.
"Participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics has always been my dream, and it is a great honor for me to represent the Chinese team." As one of the most popular athletes of the Chinese Ice and Snow Army, this 18-year-old girl who loves food, tree climbing, fashion and sports has realized her dream at the Winter Olympics at her doorstep, and her eyes are full of tears.
In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics freestyle skiing women's big jump final, Gu Ailing won the gold. The image comes from the People's Daily Weibo
Sleeping 10 hours a day, self-discipline, hard work and love is the best teacher
Previously, actor Huang Jue had done a group of portraits called "Hello Girls", and Gu Ailing was the 11th lady he shot. In Huang Jue's Weibo, Gu Ailing's mother shared her own "cultivation" experience, "I just let her sleep enough, sleep 15 hours when she was a child, 13 hours after going to primary school, and now she has to sleep 10 hours a day. If I want to talk about ideas, I remember two sentences, the first sentence is what their teacher said when Ailing entered the school, don't correct their typos, don't hit the child's creativity; the second sentence is the concept of learning, praise them less for their intelligence, more praise for their efforts."
With the encouragement and companionship of her mother, Gu Ailing has always maintained her love for freestyle skiing for many years and has made unremitting efforts for it.
She demanded that she must maintain self-discipline — to ensure more than 10 hours of sleep a day, to keep a journal after work and study, and to do the best in every movement during training. To avoid disrupting the rhythm, she trained on the snow for hours without eating a bite or drinking a mouthful of water. "Every time I look in the mirror after eating, I don't think about 'are these legs getting thicker,' but 'these legs can jump so high in the air, can do so many technical moves, and can accomplish things that no one has done before,' which makes me very proud."
"For me, freestyle skiing is a sport that needs to constantly break through myself and break through history. There is no absolute standard for every action in freestyle skiing, and you can always increase the difficulty factor or make this move more perfect. The degree of flipping is just a number, and behind it is a spirit of constantly challenging and breaking through myself, which is what attracts me to skiing. Skiing, racing, enjoying nature, in the process, I keep trying, overcoming fears, and becoming more and more courageous. Talking about his love of freestyle skiing, Gu Ailing said.
Gu Ailing under Huang Jue's lens, the picture comes from Huang Jue's Weibo
Try to be fresh, follow your heart, and strive to realize the meaning of life
Although he maintains strict self-discipline in his daily life, "he will not eat what he can't eat", this does not prevent Gu Ailing from becoming a person who loves food, "can eat, should eat, and eat unambiguously". Beijing roast duck, shabu lamb, dumplings, honey three knives, braised pork, are Gu Ailing's favorite, "Grandma (Grandma) is our family's chef, I followed her to learn braised elbows, braised fish, leek boxes, steamed meat, dare not say good, only tomatoes and eggs are still good." Gu Ailing said.
Not long ago, Gu Ailing sent a catwalk video trying on Winter Olympic equipment in the room, which had a tiger head hat, which netizens liked very much, and she herself especially liked it. Gu Ailing, who is outstanding and tall, is also the darling of the fashion industry, likes to participate in fashion weeks to walk the red carpet, and also likes to design his own clothes. The "battle robes" and ski equipment for this year's Winter Olympics are all designed by Gu Ailing himself. "When skiing outdoors, we are all wrapped up, we can't see the facial expressions, and the costume becomes a window to convey personal attitudes and show spiritual outlook." This year's theme animal is the Chinese dragon, my helmet, skis have a dragon pattern, the back of the coat also has, all the way to the shoulders, just a dragon head lying on it, I also wrote 'dragon among men' on the snowboard in English, hoping to add some Chinese elements to the Olympic field, show them to friends around the world, so that more people will be interested in Chinese culture."
"I'm only 18 years old now, and I have a lot of new things to learn in the future. But no matter what, find your own goal, enjoy the process of fighting for it, follow your heart, and do yourself well, you can achieve the meaning of life. Gu Ailing said.
Resources:
China Commission for Discipline Inspection State Supervision Commission website2022-02-08 "Exclusive Interview with Gu Ailing: The Feeling of Playing in My Hometown Is Really Different"
Huang Jue Weibo2019-11-4 《#Hello Girl#11 Gu Ailing》