The Paper's trainee reporter Hu Jie
Gu Ailing.
"I ask myself every day, who am I?"
It is hard to imagine that this sentence will come out of Gu Ailing's mouth, but she said it with great sincerity and seriousness.
Who is Gu Ailing? It's not a hard question to answer – type "Gu Ailing" into any search engine, and a series of headlines pop up to make up what she looks like: freestyle ski world champion, Stanford school bully, fashionista, sports idol...
Even when Gu Ailing appeared at the media meeting of Austrian Red Bull signed athletes in Chengdu Sunac, the host also stumbled during the introduction because of her title too much, which caused a burst of laughter in the audience.
The 17-year-old girl, who has been labeled in all sorts of ways over the past two or three years, is both praise and pressure. Even she herself said that "there are several Gu Ailing living in the body", and what she has to do is to learn how to balance and explore.
"These labels are selectively attached to me by others, but I don't imagine myself as such. Growing up to be yourself is the most important thing. Before traveling from China to Europe in mid-August to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing had a conversation with a surging news reporter about her story of "someone else's child.".
In the interview of nearly half an hour, Gu Ailing told many interesting stories, and in those details, Gu Ailing's "three-sided life" was vividly depicted.
Gu Ailing, who loves to laugh.
Winter Olympic player Gu Ailing
"I go to any race and my goal is to win the championship." At the media meeting of Austrian Red Bull signed athletes held by Chengdu Sunac, Gu Ailing was straightforward when talking about his goals for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Confident, courageous, talented and strong, this is what Gu Ailing really looks like as a freestyle skier.
"I know a lot of people see me because I'm a skier. At present, the most important thing for me is next year's Beijing Winter Olympics. Compared with Gu Ailing, who wore a cheongsam half a month later, she was wearing a sports suit and a sports duck tongue hat at this time, and her image was distinct.
"In my life, the Olympics are a distant dream, like it will never happen." Gu Ailing herself said that she made a wish to "participate in the Olympics" since she was 8 years old, and now, with her efforts, she is getting closer to her dream step by step, "but now it feels like a very real thing." ”
Returning to China in June and going to Austria for training in mid-August, Gu Ailing has focused most of his life on skiing, "From the age of 8 to freestyle skiing to now, I now like more and more every day, and I love skiing more and more, which is also related to the Olympic Games." ”
To this end, sponsor Red Bull Austria specially equipped her with a nutritionist and physical training coach. Every morning, she receives an email from the United States with her daily training plan. Even though Gu Ailing has not skied the slope barrier since the end of the World Championships in February, she still continues to draw nourishment every day.
"I feel that I am in very good physical condition and my mental state is also very good, and I am also learning to overcome the pressure and hope to be close to 100% ready when I get to the Olympic Games." In the face of the media, Gu Ailing made no secret of her desire for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
When he said these words, Gu Ailing was the "ski genius" who had both confidence and strength.
At the age of 3, he was taken to the snow field by his mother, and a year later, Gu Ailing learned to grasp the board, the pole, the cat jump and other movements. As she mentioned in her class speech at the age of 13: "I felt a little different, and I was busy on the small ramp while the children of the same age were still crying and complaining." ”
She herself recalls: "Once I fell on a ski and I suddenly realized that the new snow here was higher than mine; another time I fell asleep while skiing, and it took my mother a long time to find me in the snowdrift." ”
At the age of 7, Gu Ailing was the only girl in the professional ski team in the Lake Tahoe area, and a year later she began the journey of "fighting monsters and upgrading" - winning the national junior ski championship at the age of 9; participating in the adult group competition at the age of 13; and 50 championships including 9 national championships at the age of 14...
At that time, the International Snow Federation said of her: "Gu Ailing wrote her name into the history of freestyle skiing for the first time, and there may be many more times in the future." ”
But according to her, "I used to be a full-time student, I had classes from Monday to Friday, and I might only have 65 days a year skiing." These words may sound a bit "Versailles" to others, but Gu Ailing said it very sincerely.
Next, Gu Ailing's story in 2020 does not need to be repeated, she set a series of "first person" records in the X Games - the first Chinese athlete to win gold at the World Extreme Games, the first player to win gold in the first freestyle skiing U-shaped field competition at the Extreme Games, and the first rookie female player to take 2 gold medals in the first winter extreme games.
In the snowy arena, 17-year-old Gu Ailing is so talented and particularly dazzling.
"Skiing is not what it's like to go to war every day. Skiing was meant to be flying, it was meant to be fun, it was to create. She once admitted that skiing is more of a love and game mentality, "because the pressure will not be too much." ”
Idol Valley Ailing
17-year-old Gu Ailing is already full of achievements, but even so, in the face of the surging news reporter's interview, Gu Ailing's mouth jumped out of the most is "hard work", "I understand that when you have a goal, both to love and to enjoy, but also to work hard." ”
The background of "genius girl" is a non-stop running.
"It's a 4-hour drive from home to the slopes of Lake Tahoe, and I learned to write my homework in the car, sleep in the car, change clothes in the car, and eat in the car." In his self-description, Gu Ailing once recalled this.
In the documentary "Extreme Player", Gu Ailing also fell out of a concussion and lost her memory during skiing practice; she also smashed on the hard object on the side from a height of three meters during trampoline training and could not get up for a long time; her collarbone, foot bone and fingers have all been fractured due to skiing... These "fragile" make her appear more three-dimensional and real.
Hard work is always a necessary condition for a good athlete, but not all hard-working athletes can reach the height of "becoming an idol". Gu Ailing, on the other hand, was able to assume the title of "idol" at the age of 17.
In the 2021 Forbes China Celebrity List, Gu Ailing was the only athlete to be selected, and she was also the youngest celebrity on the list; in 2021, she became the fourth Chinese athlete to be nominated for ESPY Best Athlete after Yao Ming, Li Na and Feng Shanshan.
Regardless of her status as an athlete, she is a bully admitted to Stanford and a new favorite in the fashion industry. These roles may be beyond the reach of ordinary people, but Gu Ailing, who is only 17 years old, switches freely.
"I grew up saying I had three lives, as a normal student, as a skier, as a fashion model, and I'm balancing those three lives now." In the face of the surging news reporter, Gu Ailing emphasized the change of his identity.
In order to realize her dream, she condensed the 4-year high school curriculum into three years, studying while taking exams. In the final US SAT ("American College Entrance Examination"), her score was 1580 points, and her score was 1600, ranking in the top 0.4%.
Even more dramatically, the plane was delayed the day before the exam, and she didn't arrive at the hotel until 11:30 p.m., and the next morning she went to the exam room in the dark, but she couldn't book a car because of the rain. "In order to ensure that she arrived on time, Ailing ran a kilometer in the rain to the examination room and took the exam." Her mother, Gu Yan, revealed such a detail.
Gu Ailing is now also the darling of the fashion industry.
In terms of fashion, Gu Ailing was not only invited to participate in vogue, Elle Chinese edition and Harper's Bazaar magazine shooting, but even participated in Paris Fashion Week.
Like most girls who love beauty, she chases fashion and trends, even if she wants to spend most of her time on training, she will not easily give up "beauty", she told the surging news reporter, "This time to europe to train, I will take a few days off, back and forth between Paris and Milan." ”
It is this multi-dimensional creativity that allows Gu Ailing to break the single circle of athletes. And she hopes that her idol identity can help and inspire "even one person", because she has felt the power of idols.
Since childhood, Gu Ailing has always admired the American freestyle skier Bobby Brown. Whether it's Gu Ailing getting Bobby Brown's autographed photo when she was 9 years old, completing a difficult move in front of Bobby Brown for the first time at the age of 11, or taking the Red Bull helmet "like a big jewel" from Bobby Brown at the age of 16, Bobby Brown's encouragement and influence on her is huge.
"He gave me the signed poster that I hung on the wall all the time." This Bobby Brown poster with the words "Gu Ailing, You Will Make a Difference" accompanies Gu Ailing from a fledgling teenager to the championship podium and becomes a popular idol.
"The power of example is infinite." This is also why, when Gu Ailing is regarded as someone else's idol, she seems low-key and modest, "My goal is to be treated by at least one person as an idol like Bobby Brown, who can help and influence them at key points in their lives." ”
Gu Ailing and the little players were together.
Maiden Valley Ai Ling
Whether it is a ski champion or a fashion icon, when these keywords become a topic that Gu Ailing can't avoid, she will say quite calmly: "I am also in the stage of growth now, learning every day, and asking myself, who am I?" ”
This passage is gu Ailing's answer when asked "how to relieve stress". It is not so much a voice to the outside world as it is a kind of exploration of the self that Gu Ailing has tried.
She then added: "I've learned one thing lately – life is not someone else's, it's your own. If there is pressure, it must be given to yourself, not someone else. ”
At that moment, she was neither an athlete nor an idol, but a 17-year-old girl who would encounter stress and troubles like other ordinary girls.
"It's easy to see people and feel like everyone is perfect. But I'm not going to put all my life online, I'm not going to talk about falling down today, not training well. Between words, Gu Ailing exuded a maturity that did not match her "rainy season" age.
The more expectations he obtained, the greater the pressure on Gu Ailing's shoulders. These are the feelings she has experienced or is experiencing, but she can still maintain a "sense of lightness" now, which is the process of "asking myself who I am" one more step.
As if asked "would someone else's kids be stressed," she would quip, "If I'm all someone else's kids, where is my home?" ”
Humor, sincerity, wisdom, the excellent qualities of this era, all happen to appear in Gu Ailing.
But she has also repeatedly stressed: "In fact, I am a normal 17-year-old child, and I come home like all children." My friends around me never say, 'This is a professional Gu Ailing.' ”
When resting, Gu Ailing will choose to "lie flat" like many 17-year-old boys and girls. "This is a word I just learned." When she said "lie flat" and "inner volume" in one breath, she was quite proud, with a hint of cleverness in her eyes, grinning, "Or try some other hobby I like." ”
Eating food is actually another hobby of Gu Ailing, "I haven't tasted chengdu's spicy yet, but I want to try it." She even "inquired" about the food in the Olympic Village from the Athletes at the Tokyo Olympics, and nodded contentedly after hearing the "very good" reply.
She's looking forward to the future of college: "I can't wait to go to Stanford because I think it's going to be fun, meet a lot of new friends, and learn a lot of new things." ”
She will also be like a teenager, looking forward to her 18-year-old coming-of-age birthday, "I guess I will spend it with my Austrian classmates that day, it should be a very fun day!" ”
Even for birthday gifts, Gu Ailing, like everyone else, is a little girl who is managed by her mother.
"I said I wanted to go skydiving on my 18th birthday, and she said, absolutely not! This is not acceptable! When Gu Ailing imitated her mother's tone, she deliberately turned up the volume, causing the scene to laugh, "Wait until you are 80 years old and then go skydiving, dangerous things can only choose the same!" ”
In fact, from the time Gu Ailing entered the professional ski team, she was the little girl who was "managed".
When Gu Ailing was 8 years old, she always loved to rush all the way from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain, and this speed frightened her mother, "My mother was afraid that I was skating too fast, so she put me in the professional ski team, hoping that I would skate slower and safer." ”
But when Gu Ailing's mother saw her daughter do a backflip on the ski team, she "knew everything couldn't stop." ”
Speaking of his own story, this "other people's child" showed the girlish side - full of curiosity about the world and full of expectations for the future.
In her opinion, the slight difference is, "I feel like I am like everyone, except that I have a great love for one thing and a big dream." When he said this, Gu Ailing was particularly sincere.
This is also the charm of Gu Ailing, who loves skiing, pursues fashion, yearns for the future, challenges new limits without scruples on the field, and can release his enthusiasm for life without reservation outside the arena.
Editor-in-Charge: Ma Zuoyu
Proofreader: Liu Wei