Champion skier Eileen Gu announced for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

Eileen Gu is already perhaps the most recognisable face in winter sports, but the champion skier for a rise in profile after accepting an invitation to be part of the notorious Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition in 2025.

“We are thrilled to launch our shoot season for the 2025 issue with an extraordinary lineup of powerful female athletes,” SI Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day said in the announcement.

"This remarkable group, featuring Olympic medalists, world champions, and record holders, embodies the next generation of all-stars poised to transform the world of sports. They defy stereotypes and champion equality, inspiring young girls to envision themselves as both athletes and leaders."

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At just 21-years-old, Gu has accomplished so much in the sport, which includes two gold medals, which she won in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

That same year, she was recognized on TIME's 100 Most Influential People list under the ‘Pioneers’ category. While in 2023, Forbes ranked her as the world’s second-highest-earning female athlete.

Gu, who was born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother, became a Chinese citizen in 2019 and decided to formally represent China at competition level.

Despite this, and her success on the slops, she hasn’t exactly been adopted by The People’s Republic, far from it, in fact. Gu has faced immense criticism from Chinese media, which accused her of disloyalty to the country she now represents.

The criticism stems largely from her use of social media. When Gu shared her performance at the 2023 World Cup in Calgary, Canada, she was accused of deliberately obscuring the nationality of Chinese skier Zhang Kexin with text and emojis.

She would also later crop Zhang out of a celebration photo of winners she posted, leading many to speculate that Gu was trying to elevate her status as China’s primary skier. 

She also faced criticism for sharing images of her visit to the White House to meet Vice President Kamala Harris. The issue is that she only did so on her Instagram account and ignored her Chinese social media accounts.

Gu has since been labeled by citizens and media in China as being 'two-faced' and 'self-serving', according to the South China Morning Post.

Gu responded to her critics by posting a video on Chinese short-video app Douyin in August 2024 saying: "In the past five years, I've represented China in 41 international competitions and have won 39 medals for China."

"I have also introduced three chief coaches and donated freestyle skis to the national team, and continually advocated for China and women on the global stage. What have you done for the country?" she concluded.

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Her decision to do a risque photoshoot for a major publication like Sports Illustrated is probably unlikely to endear her further to the highly conservative Chinese public, either.

This will also not be her first foray into modeling, either, as Gu has become renowned for her work with brands such as Gucci and Fendi. But it might just be the most revealing. Let's take a quick look back at her story to date.

Gu was born in San Francisco to a Chinese immigrant mother and an American father. With her father out of the picture, Gu’s mother raised her single-handedly.

Gu’s mother, Yan, was a talented short-track skater during her time at Peking University in the 1980s. She was also a coach on the university ski team, suggesting at least some of her daughter’s talent comes from her.

From an early age, Eileen was on the slopes, having been enrolled in ski lessons from the age of three and competing with the Northstar California Resort free-ski team from the age of just eight, as told by Red Bull. 

Eileen’s mother told Forbes she only originally put Eileen in ski school so she could keep up with her and that she had, "accidentally created a pro skier," according to the Olympics official website.

Eileen Gu’s talents don’t stop at skiing and modeling, in fact, she was also an academic genius in her own right. Scoring 1580/1600 in her SAT and earning early enrollment to Stanford University, all while she traveled to China every summer to improve her math knowledge.

Following her early promise on the slopes, Gu would go on to win her first national championship aged just nine. A sign of things to come.

Despite competing for the United States in the 2018-19 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup, Gu decided to compete for China, with the aim being at the 2022 Winter Olympics that were being held in Beijing.

Gu had been growing in popularity in China long before she decided to compete for the country at the Olympics, but her announcement, on Instagram and the Chinese social media site, Weibo, drew millions of views.

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There was some speculation about Gu’s nationality, with reports from China suggesting she had renounced her US citizenship, while others claimed she had retained her US nationality even whilst competing for China, as reported by Time.

Gu realized her goal by making the Chinese team for their home Winter Olympics. At the games, Gu competed in three competitions, big air, slopestyle, and halfpipe.

Aged just 19, Gu became the youngest gold medalist in the history of the women’s big air event. She would also go on to win the freeski halfpipe competition and earn a silver medal in the slopestyle.

Gu has grown a huge following online, with 2 million followers on Instagram.

Gu is represented by IMG Models Worldwide and works with high-end fashion brands such as Gucci and Fendi.

Long before her Olympic success, Gu was receiving endorsements and sponsorships from brands in both America and China. These include The North Face and China Mobile.

According to Forbes, Gu’s success has allowed her to grow her net worth to north of $22 million.

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