Eileen Gu hopes to inspire young women in China through sports | SportsCenter Asia

Since I was little I've always said when I'm in the U.S., I'm American,

but I'm in China, I'm Chinese.

I preserve it by having friends and being able to communicate with people because thafs the best way to transmit culture.

-To me, she was Just Eileen.

She's my best friend like she's caring, she's hard-working obviously in the public and like all the attention's on her a lot of the time.

But when she's not skiing and like in front of all the cameras, she's really just supporting everyone else around her.

Well, it was the first week of school but I don't think she was in school, so she finally turned up to class and we still didn't really know why she was gone.

And we would all sort of figure that out.

When she would eventually send us a clip from northern Italy in which she said, in case you're wondering what I'm doing, watch this clip.

And we all did and we thought wow that's, that's Eileen.

Sports are ingrained in youth culture in the U.S. Almost every American kid play some sport at least one time in their childhood.

I hope to inspire more of that to happen in China.

I played basketball over the summers in China.

I was the only girl on the team.

I met a friend in a math class that I was taking during the day, so I was like hey, you should come to this basketball program that I do at night.

She said okay, whatever.

So she came and all of a sudden I wasn't the only girl anymore and so we had two girls.

And then every day every week we'd bring another one.

Everyone another person from the class until our math class was all playing basketball and my friends from China were all playing basketball.

I just want to give more kids the opportunity to try sports because I think that sport culture still has room to grow.

And so I hope to be a part of that group.

I knew that the Olympics were going to be in China and I think that this actually offered a really good opportunity because a lot of people were gonna watch the Olympics who perhaps hadn't heard of the sport before.

Look at their TVs and say hey, we're the same age and she's out there doing that I can, too.

Standing on the podium.

It s very symbolic but to me, I think my most emotional moments happen behind the scenes.

Because that's really where the work happens after my halfpipe run.

I got a 93.5 or 93 and so I'm just crying on this on this sled on the way up.

And there's a guy driving the sled.

So I'm like shaking behind him.

He's like are you okay And I'm like I'm great. I'm more than okay.

This is the moment I've dreamed of.

I didn't make any adjustments and I've made my routine and the way that I ski.

And the way that I prepare and the way that I train have remained the same.

Because I don't think that should be limited to what country I'm skiing for.

It really just is unique to me.

I think because the sport is international and my whole message is that I want to make sports international,

when you have an opportunity to try something,

always take it because the worst that can happen is you don't like it even if that means if you're the only girl in something that you're afraid to do, and overcoming, speaking up at a board, meeting or speaking up in class or sitting next to someone who you normally don't sit next to at lunch.

Just kind of encouraging people through my participation, in an extreme sport, and my participation in extreme sport in China, competing in China.