Eileen Gu may be Winter Olympic freestyle skiing champion, but she is currently keeping away from the snow to train for her very first running marathon, as well as enjoy the Summer Games.
The 20 year-old, born in the U.S. and has competed for China in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events since 2019, spoke to CGTN Europe in an exclusive interview about her new hobby and tips to be a champion.
In Paris to catch up with her Chinese colleagues at the Olympics, Gu said, "I have seen so many incredible events. There have been so many incredible performances by the Chinese team and all the athletes in Paris."
Particularly impressed by the women's synchronized diving and the swimming medley relay, both in which China won gold, Gu has been taking notes from the sidelines as a spectator.
On August 10, Gu will participate in the public Paris 2024 marathon with around 20,000 people who want to push their limits to those of Olympic athletes. The event will follow the same route and is scheduled for the same day as the official Olympics marathon. The only hurdle is, she's never run a marathon before.
Eileen Gu enjoyed the opening ceremony./ Dylan Martinez/Reuters
After accepting the invitation with a few weeks' notice, the Olympic champion turned to the world for advice: "I looked online for a three-week marathon program and the only thing I saw was 'don't!'"
Instead, watching her fellow athletes at the Games has helped her see competing from another perspective, particularly as she prepares for the longest distance she's ever run.
"I think watching as a spectator has really made me take note of how much the competition is mental," she added. "It really is performing when it counts under pressure on that day. Not the day before, not the day after, but really on the day that it counts peaking at the right time."
Whether it's perfecting a forward double cork or running her first ever marathon, Gu turns to one golden rule for winning: "I have a saying for myself that I train like I've never won and I compete like I've never lost."
When it comes to competing on the day, the Olympic ski champion says she is able to "switch" into this mentality.
"I would like to think of myself as a pretty amicable, nice person, but you have to be a killer when it's competition day."
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