The richest athlete at the Winter Olympics isn’t a household name in most places, but Eileen Gu still has a remarkable story of how she came to her wealth and the top of her sport.
She even has an interesting story behind how she came to represent her country.
Eileen Gu is a 22-year-old skier at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics
Gu, who was born in the USA but represents China, has already enjoyed significant success in her early skiing career.
She won two golds and a silver at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing before starting off this year’s event with a silver in the freeski slopestyle event.
In fact, she’s so talented that the silver will come as a great disappointment to her, given that she missed out on the gold medal by an extremely narrow margin - less than half a point - to Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud.
Her performance off the slopes is equally as impressive, as she ranks as one of the highest-paid female athletes in the world, as well as the overall highest-paid athlete at these games.
Eileen Gu decided to forge her own path in sport
Born in San Francisco to a first-generation Chinese mother and an American father - although raised by her mom - she got into skiing from an early age.
National championships followed by the age of just nine, as well as success in the classroom, eventually earning her early entrance to Stanford University.
She’s had to pause that academic career to participate in this year’s Olympics in Italy.
Throughout her youth career, she wore the flag of the USA before switching in 2019 to China.
Explaining her reasoning, she said: “The US already has the representation. I like building my own pond.”
Why is she so wealthy?
Outside of skiing, Gu has made a lot of money from endorsements and other engagements, around $23 million to be more precise.
That makes her the fourth-highest-paid female athlete in all sport - according to Forbes - with only tennis stars Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka above her.
At the games, it’s only Lindsey Vonn who can come even half-close to her wealth, with $8.2 million.
The money she earns from skiing is a relative pittance to her deals with brands like Red Bull, Porsche, and a host of Chinese companies.
With the power of the Chinese market, she has been endorsed by high-end brands like Tiffany and Louis Vuitton, as well as gracing the cover of Chinese versions of Vogue and Marie Claire.
She’ll be on the hill again during these games, seeking the gold medal in the halfpipe and big air events.