"By taking chances, Eileen Gu is building a sport. She's winning medals. Yet on a sunny Sunday at the Olympics where she defended her title on the halfpipe, maybe the best prize of all was knowing her grandma would be proud. That's why her tears flowed freely. Not long after the victory gave her a record-breaking third Olympic gold medal in freeskiing, Gu learned her grandmother, Guozhen Feng, had died."
""This woman commanded life, and she grabbed it by the reins, and she made it into what she wanted it to be." It's the way Gu, the 22-year-old -- born in America but competing for her mother's homeland of China -- likes to approach skiing, school, life and everything she touches. "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."
Eileen Gu defended her halfpipe title and won a record-breaking third Olympic gold medal in freeskiing. The victory coincided with news that her grandmother, Guozhen Feng, had died, prompting visible emotion. Her grandmother was called a "steam ship" who commanded life and shaped her destiny. Born in America, Gu competes for her mother's homeland of China and faces frequent questions about that choice. Gu emphasizes courage on the mountain and resilience off it, taking risks with every jump. She encourages critics to channel disagreements into constructive efforts and engages thoughtfully on geopolitics and the sport's future.
Read at ESPN.com
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