Team China's Eileen Gu earned her third Olympic gold medal on Sunday, setting a record in the freeskiing event. But with the high came a low, as Gu learned shortly after that her grandmother, Guozhen Feng, had died.
Gu opened up about her feelings after defending her halfpipe title, allowing tears to flow down her face as she spoke about her grandmother's life.
“She was a steamship,” Gu said. “This woman commanded life, and she grabbed it by the reins, and she made it into what she wanted it to be.”
The 22-year-old continued to explain that the news didn't come as a complete surprise. However, Gu chose to focus on how her grandmother impacted her approach to skiing and to life in general.
“She inspired me so much,” Gu said. “The last time I saw her before I came to the Olympics, she was very sick, so I knew that this was a possibility. I didn't, probably, say that I was going to win, but I did promise her that I was going to be brave. She's been brave.”
Gu, who was born in the US but has chosen to compete for her mother's homeland of China, seemingly competed and cherished her victory with her grandmother in mind. She's managed to rack up six medals in six total events in both the Milan-Cortina and Beijing Winter Games, becoming the most decorated freeskiier of all time and undoubtedly making her grandmother proud in the process.
“The difficulty of competing in three events, making finals in three events. I had to compete six times. I kind of liken it to a marathon, with the pace of a 100-meter dash,” she said. “I took a big risk in trusting myself, and I'm glad that I did.”
