Gu Ailing apologizes for being late to press conference after learning grandmother passed｜Olympics — Transcript

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1. 0:00Yeah, um, I'm so proud of how I've done
2. 0:04this Olympics. I
3. 0:06joke, I'm not a betting woman, but if I
4. 0:08were, I took a big gamble this time
5. 0:10because I chose to do three events
6. 0:12knowing that I hadn't trained halfpipe
7. 0:13in 2 months, knowing that I would miss
8. 0:15the halfpipe training because of in case
9. 0:17I made big air finals, which I also
10. 0:19hadn't competed in in 4 years, mind you.
11. 0:21And so, being able to really trust
12. 0:24myself that when it came down to the
13. 0:26moment, I would be able to perform to
14. 0:28the best of my ability regardless of
15. 0:30metal color or metal in general. Um, but
16. 0:33that's a big bet. And also just the
17. 0:35difficulty of competing in three events,
18. 0:37making finals in three events. I had to
19. 0:39compete six times. And I kind of liken
20. 0:41it to a marathon, but the pace of a
21. 0:44100-meter dash cuz every day is the
22. 0:46Olympics. I have to give 100% every day.
23. 0:48So, there's no day that I can just chill
24. 0:50a little because every day matters. So,
25. 0:52I guess what I mean to say with that is
26. 0:54I have done something that
27. 0:57I I took a big risk in trusting myself,
28. 0:59and I'm glad that I did. Um, I walk away
29. 1:02as the most decorated freeskier of all
30. 1:04time, male or female. I have the most
31. 1:06gold medals of any freeskier ever, male
32. 1:08or female. And that is something that
33. 1:11I'm so, so proud of. It's unbelievable
34. 1:13to me. It's still surreal.
35. 1:15Um, and so, I appreciate all the people
36. 1:17who support me and who
37. 1:19hopefully take up freeskiing maybe
38. 1:22because of me um, or at least maybe
39. 1:23heard about freeskiing for the first
40. 1:25time.
41. 1:26That Those are the people who I do it
42. 1:27for.
43. 1:28Otherwise, I just encourage people to
44. 1:30use that energy and direct it to
45. 1:31something um, that makes the world
46. 1:33better in their own way. I think I'm
47. 1:34making the most amount of good with the
48. 1:36powers that I have as um, a 22-year-old
49. 1:39athlete, and I think in this way I'm
50. 1:42benefiting the most people. If people
51. 1:44disagree with me, if they have other
52. 1:45skill sets, which I'm sure they do, then
53. 1:47I encourage them to direct that direct
54. 1:49it elsewhere and to make the world
55. 1:50better in their own way.
56. 1:54As young women, I think it is easy to
57. 1:58doubt. Um, and I mean this as in like
58. 2:02instilled, you know, self-instilled
59. 2:04self-doubt, but also maybe
60. 2:07external subtleties and like little
61. 2:09micro things that make you doubt
62. 2:11yourself and over time make you afraid
63. 2:13to try. That's why we see rates of young
64. 2:15women participating in sports drop off
65. 2:17precipitously between the ages of 11 and
66. 2:1914. And so, as far as trusting yourself,
67. 2:22the power of sport is unparalleled
68. 2:25because it is
69. 2:27evidence over affirmation. It's you
70. 2:29don't tell yourself, "Oh, I can handle
71. 2:31the pressure. Oh, I'm so great."
72. 2:34You do it time and again. And another
73. 2:36thing, you know, I said this earlier in
74. 2:38an interview, I said, "Sports are really
75. 2:39honest because you can't lie to
76. 2:41yourself. You know when you stayed late
77. 2:43and other people weren't there. You know
78. 2:45when you showed up early and other
79. 2:46people weren't there. You know when you
80. 2:48gave 100% in training day in day out for
81. 2:51months, for months." And so, it's not
82. 2:53about, you know, at the last I tell
83. 2:55myself a chipper little line and call it
84. 2:57a day. It's the fact that I look back on
85. 3:00quite literally years, like decade, of
86. 3:03hard work, of pouring my heart and soul
87. 3:05into this sport. And so, it's yeah, it's
88. 3:07trusting myself, but it's building that
89. 3:08trust every day. Um, and so, that's a
90. 3:11big reason why I encourage more young
91. 3:12girls to get into sports because I think
92. 3:14that the power it has to build and
93. 3:16instill that confidence in people, um,
94. 3:18is is a really special and and unique
95. 3:20form.
96. 3:21Oh, yeah, I guess I didn't answer the
97. 3:22second question. So, um,
98. 3:25it's Fashion Week in Milan. So, I have
99. 3:28the other job, the other fashion thing.
100. 3:30Um, no, no, I'm really excited to just
101. 3:32explore some other avenues, be creative,
102. 3:35and explore my femininity through
103. 3:37fashion, which is something I've always
104. 3:38loved, and to kind of put that in
105. 3:40juxtaposition with skiing and and with
106. 3:43sports. And I think that they can
107. 3:44coexist so beautifully. And so, I hope
108. 3:47to represent that, um,
109. 3:48next week in Milan.
110. 3:52A big thing is I'm not afraid to try. I
111. 3:54take big risks and
112. 3:57for the last two Olympics it's worked
113. 3:58out.
114. 3:59Um but even if it hadn't, I think I left
115. 4:02nothing on the table. Like I know that
116. 4:04looking back at this Olympics and the
117. 4:06months that preceded it, there's quite
118. 4:08literally nothing that I could have done
119. 4:10more. Like I did everything I could um
120. 4:13every single day. Every single thing
121. 4:15that I could like if you can think of
122. 4:17something like oh, I should do this now.
123. 4:19I've done it. I have done every I could
124. 4:21possibly do for this Olympics and so
125. 4:23it's like if things didn't go my way, I
126. 4:25wouldn't regret feeling unprepared. I
127. 4:27wouldn't regret feeling like I could
128. 4:29have done more and so that I also think
129. 4:31instills a bit of confidence in you
130. 4:32because
131. 4:33you can never control the result. You
132. 4:35can never control the outcome, but you
133. 4:36can control the preparation and most
134. 4:38importantly you can fall in love with
135. 4:39the process.
136. 5:39Thank you, Shirl. That's very kind.
137. 5:41Um
138. 5:42Oh, man.
139. 5:44Do I think? I think overall I'm just a
140. 5:47pensive person. Like I'm a very
141. 5:49introspective I'm an introspective young
142. 5:51woman. Like I spend a lot of time in my
143. 5:53head. Um and it's not a bad place to be.
144. 5:55I I journal a lot. I break down all of
145. 5:57my thought processes. I think I apply a
146. 5:59very analytical lens to my own thinking
147. 6:02and I kind of modify it because it's so
148. 6:05interesting, you can control what you
149. 6:06think. Like you can control how you
150. 6:08think and therefore you can control who
151. 6:10you are. And especially as a young
152. 6:11person, like I'm 22, so with
153. 6:13neuroplasticity on my side, I can
154. 6:15literally become exactly who I want to
155. 6:16be. How cool is that? Like how
156. 6:17empowering is that, right? And so the
157. 6:20fact is I get to become every day the
158. 6:22kind of person that me at age eight
159. 6:25would revere. Like I would be obsessed
160. 6:27with me today. Are you kidding? I would
161. 6:28love me. And I think that's the biggest
162. 6:30flex of all time that you can have like
163. 6:31little younger you be proud of you
164. 6:33today. And so I guess for me it's like I
165. 6:35yes, I spend a lot of time in my own
166. 6:37head. Yes, I think a lot, but it's not
167. 6:38really like in an egotistical kind of
168. 6:41way. It's in like a tinkering like a
169. 6:43scientist kind of way. I'm always like
170. 6:44trying to modify. I'm trying to think,
171. 6:45how can I be better? How can I approach
172. 6:47my own brain the way that I approach my
173. 6:49craft of free skiing
174. 6:51um so that I can be better tomorrow than
175. 6:52I was today.
176. 6:55Yeah, I think for me
177. 6:58global beneficial impact is like my
178. 7:01central theme. Um and there are a lot of
179. 7:03different avenues that anybody can do
180. 7:05that. And I think it's more assessing
181. 7:06your individual skill set and trying to
182. 7:08say, okay, what is the way that I can as
183. 7:11a person do the most good in the world?
184. 7:13Um so right now, I'm young, I'm
185. 7:16energetic, my body is like physically as
186. 7:19capable as it can be compared to you
187. 7:22know, 30 years down the line. So it
188. 7:23makes the most sense for me to do that
189. 7:24through the avenues that I'm exploring
190. 7:25now, fashion, sport and skiing. Um
191. 7:28down the line, I think it will
192. 7:29absolutely take a different form. Yeah,
193. 7:31I think as I age and as I grow and um
194. 7:35the like I guess avenue of like highest
195. 7:37optimization will change. I'm not going
196. 7:40to be too specific in answering that
197. 7:41because I don't want to commit myself to
198. 7:44something, but do I have ideas? Yes,
199. 7:45absolutely.
200. 7:47So, when I was when I had this press
201. 7:49conference 4 years ago,
202. 7:51a lot of it was theoretical. You know, I
203. 7:53say, "I want to inspire more girls to
204. 7:55try skiing."
205. 7:56I don't even need to do that anymore
206. 7:57because now we can just look at the
207. 7:59numbers.
208. 8:00350 million people tried snow sports for
209. 8:02the first time. There's double-digit
210. 8:04increase
211. 8:05growth in the industry both in terms of
212. 8:08snow sport impressions, in terms of um
213. 8:12sponsorships, money in the sport. This
214. 8:15is huge because it's not just about
215. 8:17Okay, it is about There's people in
216. 8:19China, there are kids in China, there
217. 8:20are girls in China whose lives are going
218. 8:22to be touched by the beautiful and
219. 8:24wonderful power of sport. So, that in
220. 8:26and of itself is
221. 8:27absolutely measured impact that I think
222. 8:31I had always wanted. I reached that goal
223. 8:33and I exceeded it. Um the second thing
224. 8:35is within the industry itself, the ski
225. 8:37industry. There are more eyes on this
226. 8:40sport than there were 4 years ago. There
227. 8:41are more people paying attention to it
228. 8:43now. Um
229. 8:45the fact is a rising tide raises all
230. 8:46boats, and so this is also good for
231. 8:48every other athlete competing regardless
232. 8:50of what country you compete for. And so,
233. 8:52that kind of mentality of I want to
234. 8:55bring the sport to more people to
235. 8:57hopefully benefit people outside the
236. 8:59sport and also be able to give back to
237. 9:01my own community, free skiing, um and
238. 9:04everybody who partakes in it now.
239. 9:06Um as a competitor, I don't want to
240. 9:08generalize, but as a competitor myself,
241. 9:11I think
242. 9:12we yearn The thing we yearn for most is
243. 9:15a worthy opponent. I think there's
244. 9:16something so beautiful in that. It's not
245. 9:18about beating other people, but it's
246. 9:20about the sense of healthy competition.
247. 9:22That's what sportsmanship is. That's
248. 9:23what the Olympics are about. If I went
249. 9:24to a middle school and like beat
250. 9:26everybody at free skiing there, it's
251. 9:27like not exciting for anybody, right?
252. 9:29What's exciting is that year after year
253. 9:31we get to see the progression of a sport
254. 9:33as the average of everybody, and
255. 9:35everybody's average rises, and we all
256. 9:37get better. And maybe the people at the
257. 9:39top are contributing a little bit more,
258. 9:40but everybody is contributing to that
259. 9:42growth. Um and and that's something
260. 9:44that's really special to me. So, do I
261. 9:46welcome that? Yeah, absolutely. I mean,
262. 9:48I love to compete. I love to compete. I
263. 9:50love to win, but I love to compete and I
264. 9:51love to ski. And so, if I were to put
265. 9:53that in order, I would say I love to ski
266. 9:55first, and then I love to compete, and
267. 9:57then I love to win. But at my heart and
268. 9:59soul, I like to ski. Yeah. And then, I
269. 10:01know you said that was the last
270. 10:02question, but I just want to say
271. 10:03something really quickly.
272. 10:04Um
273. 10:05The reason I was late is that
274. 10:08I just found out that my grandma passed
275. 10:09away. And um she was like a really
276. 10:12she was a really big part of my life um
277. 10:15growing up and someone I looked up to
278. 10:17immensely. She was such a strong
279. 10:22she was a fighter, and I think what's so
280. 10:24interesting is that a lot of people just
281. 10:25cruise through life, but she was a
282. 10:27steamship. Like, this woman commanded
283. 10:29life, and she grabbed it by the reins,
284. 10:31and she made it into what she wanted it
285. 10:33to be.
286. 10:34And she inspired me so much.
287. 10:37The last time I saw her before I came to
288. 10:38the Olympics, she was very sick, so I
289. 10:39knew that this was a possibility.
290. 10:42Um I didn't promise her that I was going
291. 10:43to win, but I did promise her that I was
292. 10:45going to be brave like she has been
293. 10:46brave. And that's why I keep referring
294. 10:49to this theme of like betting on myself
295. 10:50and like being brave and taking risks.
296. 10:53It actually goes back to that promise
297. 10:54that I made my grandma. And so, I'm
298. 10:56really happy that I was able to uphold
299. 10:58that
300. 10:59um and hopefully do her proud, but um
301. 11:01it's also a really difficult time for me
302. 11:03now. So, I really apologize for being
303. 11:05late, but like that's what was going on.
304. 11:07Sorry.
305. 11:10Uh Gu Ailing
306. 11:12Yeah, that's my middle name. Feng for
307. 11:14her. Yeah.
308. 11:16Gu Ailing, thank you so much for sharing
309. 11:19your emotions with us. That's all what
310. 11:21we have for today. Thanks for attending
311. 11:24on site or
312. 11:25online. And these are the last words
313. 11:27from Livigno Snowpark press conference
314. 11:30room. Stop the live stream now.
315. 11:32Thank you.