Eileen Gu named ambassador for Gangwon Youth Olympics

China's Eileen Gu celebrates on the podium during the women's big air medal ceremony in Beijing on Feb. 8, 2022. [AFP/YONHAP]

Olympic skier and two-time gold-medalist Eileen Gu has been named an ambassador for the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in a statement Wednesday.

Final countdown begins for Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics

"I am very honored to be appointed as Gangwon 2024 Global Ambassador," Gu said in the IOC statement. "This competition will play a big role in delivering a valuable message to teenagers around the world that sports are open to anyone regardless of gender, age, physical ability, geographic location, or religion."

Gu, 20, won two gold medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, becoming the youngest-ever freestyle skiing Olympic champion with her first-place finishes in the women’s big air and halfpipe events.

She also nabbed a silver medal in the women’s slopestyle, making her the first person to win three medals in freestyle skiing at a single Games.

And she’s also a junior Olympics alum. Her Beijing record was an identical repeat of her finish at the 2020 Lausanne Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she took gold in the girl’s big air and halfpipe events and a silver in slopestyle.

"Competing in the Youth Olympics gave me confidence to compete on the global stage and gave me valuable experience before I actually experienced the Olympics," Gu said in the IOC release.

Gu was born in the United States but has represented China on the international sporting stage since 2019 when she requested to change her nationality in the International Ski Federation.

Since then, she has won a slew of top-three finishes for the Chinese national team from an X Games, a World Championship, two Winter Olympicses and about a dozen World Cups.

As a Gangwon ambassador, Gu will serve as a mentor to the roughly 1,900 young athletes from 70 countries heading to Korea next month and promote the Games on social media, according to the IOC.

The Gangwon Olympics officially kick off with an opening ceremony on Jan. 19 and end with a closing ceremony on Feb. 1.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]