China’s Eileen Gu reacts after her final run in the big air competition on Tuesday, February 8. Her score on that run lifted her past France’s Tess Ledeux to win the gold medal.Elsa/Getty ImagesUpdated 0444 GMT (1244 HKT) February 8, 2022China’s Eileen Gu reacts after her final run in the big air competition on Tuesday, February 8. Her score on that run lifted her past France’s Tess Ledeux to win the gold medal.Elsa/Getty ImagesEileen Gu, the 18-year-old freestyle skier known as the “snow princess” in China, delivered in her Olympic debut.The home crowd favorite won gold in the big air competition, edging France’s Tess Ledeux in Beijing.Gu was born in the United States and her father is American, but in 2019 she decided that she would compete for China, where her mother was born. She is a model and brand ambassador that has become one of the most prominent faces of the Beijing Winter Games. She could win more medals during these Olympics, too, as she is the defending world champion in the halfpipe and slopestyle events.This is the second Olympics to be held during the coronavirus pandemic. As with last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, a raft of Covid-19 countermeasures have been put into place and the Games will be held inside what authorities have called a “closed loop” system — a bubble completely cut off from the rest of the city. Tickets for the Games were not sold to the general public; they would be distributed by authorities instead.Beijing is the first city in history to host both a Summer and a Winter Olympics.
The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing
