China’s freestyle skier Eileen Gu late on Tuesday announced her arrival in Beijing to her 1.3 million followers on Sina Weibo, as the 18-year-old prepares to take part in the Winter Olympic Games.
The San Francisco native, who is also known in China by her Mandarin name Ailing and whose mother is from Beijing, is one of Team China’s best-known athletes.
After starting her career competing for the US, she switched to represent China in 2019, winning a number of titles for the country over the past two years.
Photo: Reuters
As part of the Olympic bubble, Gu can skip the standard three-week quarantine and hit the slopes right away, although she cannot travel freely while in China.
Gu’s sporting prowess, fluent Mandarin and brand endorsements for a wide range of Chinese companies, from tech giant JD.com to dairy producer China Mengniu Dairy, have turned her into a fan favorite in China.
Advertisements starring Gu, who is also a highly sought-after model, have visibly increased at bus stops and subway stations all over Beijing in the buildup to the Olympics.
“Beijing dumplings, finished eating all of them,” she wrote in Chinese on Sina Weibo, posting a picture of her holding chopsticks.
Her post was warmly welcomed by her fans, many of whom described it as a homecoming of sorts.
“Was it tasty, Ailing? Welcome back, this will forever be your home ground,” wrote user Regardeca.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB