Besides an unconventional opening ceremony, what struck Chinese audiences the most was the emergence of a new generation of Chinese athletes who are notably different from their predecessors, and less a product of the State system of sports development.
Chinese athletes were known for being extremely hardworking and said to be more tolerant of pain which came at the expense of a happy and healthy childhood and quality personal life. While this perception has only been gradually transformed over the past years, there are persistent stereotypes about Chinese athletes, who were seen to be too burdened with trying to say and do the right thing while on the podium, while being less eloquent in expressing their personal feelings.
To put it simply, Chinese athletes are perceived to lack character and to live a less desirable life compared to their Western counterparts. But the emergence of a new generation of energetic and charismatic young Chinese athletes in the 2022 Winter Games presents a brand-new image of Chinese athletes.
The most celebrated athlete competing for China is no doubt Gu Ailing Eileen, perhaps the most talked-about athlete of the Games. Born in the US to an American father and Chinese mother, Gu is the world’s best freestyle skier, and an influencer with a lucrative modeling career, who has already graced the cover of Vogue. She has endorsements and contracts worth more than US$2.5 million, media reported.
Raised by her mother Gu Yan mostly in the US, and regularly returning to China to spend summers with her Chinese grandma making her fluent in both Chinese and English, Gu announced in 2019 that she would represent China in the Winter Games. After winning gold in the women’s freeski big air and silver in slopestyle, she completed her hat trick with a gold in the freeski halfpipe, catapulting her to media sensation and possible China’s most adored athlete.
If Gu is not convincing enough, given her American background, Su Yiming is snapping at her heels. A homegrown teen snowboarding sensation, Su was born in Northeast China’s Jilin Province to parents who are snowboarding enthusiasts. Su started the sport when he was just 4. When he was 8, he played a skiing prodigy in the action blockbuster The Taking of Tiger Mountain.
After being cast in several movies after that, Su had established a solid career as a child actor and was on track to becoming a movie star before he decided to become a professional snowboarder. In October 2021, 17-year-old Su was the first person in the world to ever pull off an “insane” backslide 1980 Indy Crail, a feat recognized by Guinness World Records.
In the first snowboard event of the Games, Su won a controversial silver that many thought should have been gold, after a judging error saw Canadian Max Parrot awarded top spot. Head judge Iztok Sumatic later admitted that they failed to notice a knee grab by Parrot that should have seen him docked three points.
But instead of filing a complaint as many Chinese fans urged him to, Su’s team called on them to stop criticizing the judges and move on to enjoy the rest of the Games. Su won the men’s snowboard big air title with an unbeatable score of 182.50, just three days before his 18th birthday, adding him to the roster of China’s new teenage heroes.
On Sina Weibo, a major social media platform in China, the hashtag “Su Yiming wins gold” was viewed 1.5 billion times in the 24 hours after his win. While many started talking about his prospects in future Olympics and winning more medals, Su,who can speak three languages, Chinese, English and Japanese – his coach is veteran snowboarder Yasuhiro Sato – told the media he is open to a return to the silver screen.
“My dream was to compete in snowboarding and be an actor at the same time,” Su said, “I want to put these two things together and make something new, something different.” Gu and Su are not the only youngsters to make an impression. Yan Wengang, 24, won bronze in the skeleton, China’s first Olympic medal in a sliding sport, and Rong Ge, a 19-year-old snowboarder, became the first Chinese finalist in the women’s snowboard big air, finishing fifth.
They showed the world that Chinese athletes are able to make breakthroughs in sports previously dominated by Western athletes as well as enjoy their lives and be inspirational role models like their Western counterparts.
While China’s success in the summer Games is often said to be mostly driven by State-funded projects focusing on elite athletes, China’s enthusiasm for the winter Games is strongly supported by mass participation in winter sports, which are more closely associated with alternative and trendy lifestyles and are very appealing to China’s growing and prosperous middle income group.