Big leap | A big air of brotherhood

A Chinese-American star is born

(Beijing) You can see her on the cover of fashion magazines, on billboards in the Beijing subway, and now on the gold medal board.

Ailing Eileen Gu may practice a fairly niche sport, but she was already a Chinese star the day before yesterday, in fact, since this young woman from San Francisco took Chinese nationality two years ago in anticipation of the Olympic Games. Beijing.

Imagine tomorrow…

The young woman crushed the competition and lifted the Chinese crowd with a jump never attempted before.

When we asked him to talk about it, we were treated to a first in a ski, acrobatic or other press conference: explaining his movements through his knowledge of music.

“I did the piano for nine years, and it taught me rhythm, and when I was in the air, I felt the rhythm, the breathing, and I visualized my jump better, I didn’t know if I I would do it, but I wanted to show the world what I’m capable of, and if I didn’t do it, I had two more jumps. »

It was so eloquent, it was like seeing a grand piano fly, for a moment.

Two journalists tried to find out whether or not she had given up her American citizenship. Without success.

Born to an American father and a Chinese mother, she was brought up by her mother and grandmother, who instilled in her “the taste for surpassing oneself”. She is fluent in Mandarin – as far as we can tell – and speaks fast and fluent in both English and the local language.

“I have said many times how exceptionally supportive I have been from both the United States and China. »

Yes, but…

No answer, but she says she plans to spend 25-30% of her time in China, the rest in the United States.

A reporter asked her what she, who wants to be a role model for young Chinese women, thinks about the case of Peng Shuai, another sports role model for young Chinese women, and the fact that big doubts remain about her new version. She toed the official Chinese line.

“I’m glad she came to see us, it’s good for our sport when stars of bigger sports like tennis are interested in us, and I’m glad to see she’s doing well. »

Calm, fire, ambition, a vivacity that blew the whole press room, not to mention a model look. We are only just beginning to hear about it.

Before talking about cork or grab (which I personally call “pogne”), we must reiterate what distinguishes Big Air from slopestyle. Can we talk about brotherhood?

Whether they finished first or eighth, there was in the air, the coarse air of Beijing, a kind of really collective good humor.

Of course, a medal is not to be despised. But rarely will we see so many competitors smile so much after the “defeat”, rejoice so much in the success of others.

The X Games spirit has survived its children’s entry into the Olympic world, it seems.

“It’s not exactly how I would have liked it to turn out,” admitted Olivia Asselin, of Lac-Beauport, who finished eighth. “But it’s a great experience. I missed the grabs on the first two jumps, so I knew I was going to lose points, I wanted to play safe on the last one. »

A final at his first Games, at 17, was already unexpected, if we look back a few months. “It’s much more stressful than an ordinary competition…”

All praised the urban site, planted in a 1970s post-industrial setting, with its reinforced concrete nuclear cooling towers in the background.

“Best city Big Air I’ve seen, it looks like the mountains,” said Asselin.

Ontarian Meghan Oldham, 20, had reason to be disappointed, she who had achieved the best score in qualifications.

But she did “all the stuff I know right now, so I couldn’t do better than them (the girls on the podium).” The gold belonged to Gu, that was obvious.

We saw them all hugging each other.

“When I finished, I went to thank the other girls, because without them, I would never have tried this jump. It’s thanks to them that I made it,” Gu said.

That’s not good sportsmanship, is it?

Anyway, that’s the Big Air spirit. A big air of brotherhood.