Spirits Never Fading: What China’s Skiing Sensation Gu Ailing Has offered

As Chinese freestyle skier Gu Ailing became an overnight sensation, China News Service published an article affirming her achievements and praising the Olympic spirit of the generation Z represented by Gu Ailing at Beijing Winter Olympic Games. The text is as follows:

Having stunned the world through her electric big air performance and breezy air of confidence in her victory interview, Chinese freestyle skier Gu Ailing has become an overnight sensation. The enthusiasm might fade away, but the spirits behind the teenage Olympic sensation will not.

Gu Ailing represents the spirit of sport
Gu Ailing did not get an easy victory in the woman's freeski big air final. After two runs, she was in the third place and thereby faced with the dilemma of whether or not to make her last giant jump for the gold medal. At last, the teenage girl decided to risk a double 1620 and did land successively on her final run to win the gold. Such attempt to strive for the best and challenge the impossible is the real charm of athletics. By doing so, she has not only made history, but also put into practice the Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger-Together" at Beijing 2022.

Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games-- Gu Ailing wins woman’s freeski big air gold medal—February 8, 2022 –Chinanews.com/Li Jun

Gu Ailing spoke out in response to tough questions in the post-game interview. "I feel like sport is really a way in that we can unite people. It doesn't have to be something that's related to nationality." Sport is supposedly not politicized, and athletes' endless challenges to the limit of human ability recognize no boundaries, too. To put it another way, sport should be used as a unifying power to increase solidarity rather than divide people, which explains why the International Olympic Committee (IOC) added the word "together" to the 100-year-old Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" last year.
Gu Ailing represents the spirit of Generation Z
Meantime, we should be aware of the fact that the gold medalist is also a Generation Zero. Gu Ailing earned 6 gold medals within 36 days through sweat and talent. During post-event period, she faces criticism and doubts head-on and manages to beat embarrassment with good humor; in daily life, she is just like other teenagers, being sometimes gluttonous, playful and indolent and tending to sleep off. All these traits are typical of Generation Z, who are daring to challenge the impossible and push the boundaries and good at learning new things. More importantly, they are fond of "being in love with fear".

Gu Ailing of China is making the jump on her final run-- Big Air Shougang, Beijing, China - February 8, 2022. Chinanews.com/Mao Jianjun

Looking back on the world history, we can see that a lot of human greatness was achieved in youth. During wartime, Huo Qubing (140 BC - 117 BC) of China's western Han dynasty had won many decisive victories in military battles when he was still a teenager. Zhuge Liang, an accomplished statesman of the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280AD), had been a strategic mastermind in his late twenties. In the history of arts, Wang Ximeng (1096-1119), a famous Chinese painter during the Song Dynasty, had finished painting the renowned scroll titled A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. The Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, before reaching 42 years old, had completed his masterpieces such as Allegory of Spring and the Birth of Venus. In the field of physics, Albert Einstein put forward the special theory of relativity at the age of 26; Yang Chen-Ning and Tsung-Dao Lee won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on parity non-conservation of weak interaction, when Yang was 34 and Lee 30.
To sum up, youth is never the chains holding one back from success; instead, it is a sharp weapon that the youngsters can use to overcome obstacles and break old conventions.

Big Air Shougang--Gu Ailing of China comforted France's Tess Ledeux with another fellow medalist after snatching a big air gold--February 8, 2022--Chinanews.com/Mao Jianjun

Gu Ailing tells the Chinese story of harmony in diversity
Being an America-born Chinese girl, Gu Ailing representing Team China has become a trending topic around the world. Since the first time she represented China, some western media have made attempts to trap her into supporting U.S. and criticizing China by throwing tough questions at her during the interviews. But the teenager can always stay true to who she is in response to those tricky questions. When winning her first championship in North America in 2022, she wore a cowboy hat and held high a glass of Champagne to celebrate it; while skiing in Big Air Shougang, she wore the jacket embroidered with an eye-catching golden dragon on the back to express her pride in China and its culture.
GU Ailing's rising to fame derives itself from decades of China-US exchanges and cooperation, and is even more importantly due to the "chemical reaction" between the two countries in both sport and culture. Just like what she said in the interview, "I feel American in the U.S. and Chinese in China". It is her feeling at home in both countries that has made her the international idol. Meantime, she has also let the world know what real beauty is, that is, the beauty transcending ideologies and featuring harmony in diversity.