You are correct, I looked it up and the US permits dual citizenship with China WTF! Why? China does not permit dual citizenship so she is Chinese. She apparently attended undergrad and summer math school in China and appears to train with the Chinese. Her mother raised her and was also a Stanford grad.
True but how many people ski? According to Google, China's ski industry has 13.55 million participants. Compare that to the number of US Americans who run: over 50 million.
That's why I'm shocked that a skier gets $23 million a year in endorsements. Does Noah, Sydney, or Hocker get anything close to that? Do they even get that much combined?
Well, you ask exactly the right question for both Gu and Mondo.
In the US they would both be fringe sports stars with access to limited endorsements.
In China and Sweden they are not fringe stars, rather they are mainstream stars and celebrities.
Mondo was recently Sweden's athlete of the year for all sports.
Gu is not used in China for just ski gear, but cars, fashion, banks, airlines etc.
This mainstream appeal leads to big sponsors and high pay for marketing efforts in their home countries.
In addition neither must worry about qualifying for Olympic team, as there is a different process than USA, and their spots are locked in.
I think it’s pretty lame to be born in the US, live in the US, enjoy all the benefits of not living in a country at odds with the West, and then compete for China
Well right now there are a lot of countries at odds with the US.
There are a lot of soccer players born in Europe to American fathers who aren't good enough to make that countries national team but can make the US team. Happens all the time.
The only thing unbelievable is that she ONLY makes $23 million per year. I would expect her to be closer to $50-$60 million considering her marketability.
You are correct, I looked it up and the US permits dual citizenship with China WTF! Why? China does not permit dual citizenship so she is Chinese. She apparently attended undergrad and summer math school in China and appears to train with the Chinese. Her mother raised her and was also a Stanford grad.
I believe she refuses to answer if she still has a US passport, so the CCP almost certainly turned a blind eye.
The real interesting question is the identity of her dad. There’s lots of speculation she’s an IVF test tube baby. Maybe we should all chip in and make an Eileen Gu of running happen.
She's not a "skier "she's a little mommy's gymnast showgirl who put skis on and gets about 1 foot above the lip of a half pipe. China bought athletes the same way UAE buys runners..
Fun fact: she was a solid high school runner for UHS in San Francisco when UHS and Lick were going back and forth every year, both in dual meets and at California D5 States.
She's not a "skier "she's a little mommy's gymnast showgirl who put skis on and gets about 1 foot above the lip of a half pipe. China bought athletes the same way UAE buys runners..
And does all that very well. No one on a running message board should be passing judgment on someone's athleticism.