For freestyle skiers and fashion followers, the explosion of The Valley Ailing at this year's Winter Olympics is not a big surprise.
Gu Ailing & LV
On Tuesday, the eighteen-year-old girl's gold medal performance in a large aerial snowboard competition pushed her into global focus and hit a hot search on China's social media weibo, which at one point caused her server to crash.
Gu Ai Ling bully list Weibo hot search
After several years of polishing, Gu Ailing has been portrayed as a top athlete and a highly valuable model, which is very attractive in both Asia and Europe and the United States.
In 2021, when Gu Ailing won gold at the International Snow Federation World Championships and the Winter Extreme Games, she also reached a partnership with some fashion stores and luxury brands.
Gu Ailing & Wanguo
She became a contracted model for IMG (International Management Group), a company that included stars such as Bella Hadid, Kate Moss and Hailey Bieber. In addition, Gu Ailing has also cooperated with LV, Vitoria's Secret, Tiffany & Co., Swiss luxury watch IWC and makeup brand Estée Lauder.
At the Winter Olympics, the California-born girl is the most sponsored athlete. From Beats by Dre headphones to Cadillac, she has more than twenty business partners in Beijing.
After Chinese name "Gu Ailing" became a household name in China, people gave her the nickname of "Ice Princess", which made her brand value increase rapidly.
After she became a Chinese citizen in 2019, her fluent Mandarin gave Gu Ailing a niche in China's TV commercials, large billboards and even milk cartons (Mengniu). In recent months, she has endorsed a growing number of mainland brands, including e-commerce giant JD.com, coffee chain Luckin and China Mobile.
Gu Ailing & JD.com
Bain & Company expects China to become the world's largest consumer market for luxury goods in 2025. Marketing and advertising magazine Campagen-Asia estimates that each endorsement could cost Ms. Gu $15 million ($2.5 million) — before she won the gold medal.