Chinese sportswear company Anta Sports Products announced yesterday that it has signed China’s first naturalised skier, Eileen Gu, as a brand ambassador.
The 15-year-old, also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, changed her national affiliation from American to Chinese in June 2019, and is representing China at the Youth Olympic Games currently taking place in Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She will be taking part in the freestyle, freestyle ski jumping, and slope obstacle events in Lausanne.
Since joining the Chinese team, Gu has won two gold medals at the Australian New Zealand Cup in August 2019. A hashtag about her wins was viewed over 160m times on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.
Born to an American father and a Chinese mother, Gu speaks fluent Chinese with a Beijing accent. She started skiing at the age of 3 and won the junior’s group of the USASA National Championships at the age of 9.
In addition to Anta, Gu has also signed ambassador deals with Chinese dairy brand Mengniu and Austrian energy drink brand Red Bull.
