China’s Olympic freestyle skiing champion Eileen Gu announced yesterday she will at will serve as an ambassador for the U.S. bid to host the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Gu made the announcement at the the TIME100 honoring the most influential people of 2022.
The 18-year-old athlete was born in California to a Chinese mother and chose to compete for China in freestyle skiing at the Beijing Olympics where she won two gold medals. The Associated Press reports she has signed on to work for SLC Winter Olympic bid as an “athlete representative.” Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the bid committee says her exact role has yet to be determined:
“She is working with us but we haven’t chosen her exact title.”
There is obviously some controversy surrounding Gu’s role with the Salt Lake City committee but she views it as a “beautiful example of globalism.” Gu will not be traveling next week to Lausanne, Switzerland, with a delegation from Salt Lake to meet IOC officials. American skier Lindsey Vonn would be in attendance.
