Eileen Gu, an American-born freestyle skier, caused major controversy when she decided to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics under the Chinese flag. Here, Gu picked up three medals, the most won by any freestyle skier in a single Olympic Games. She won gold medals in big air and halfpipe and bagged a silver in slopestyle. At 18, Gu became the youngest Olympic Champion in freestyle skiing. Subsequently, Gu’s popularity in China soared.

Though, that’s not to say she was any less of a household name before. With a flourishing modeling career, Gu is represented by IMG models, and with the trajectory of her career, she may soon be hitting the big leagues. Top models like Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber might need to make way for a new star.

Eileen Gu’s career as a model

Gu was not only born a prodigy on the slope, but was also blessed with good looks. In 2021, she was already endorsing 16 brands, including big names like Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci. Even Victoria’s Secret signed her on as a model. She has appeared on the covers of the Chinese editions of Elle, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and even Vogue. 

It is estimated that Gu raked in about $31.4 million in 2021, even before she stepped foot on Olympic ice. Now that she has won multiple medals for China, that number is bound to shoot up. This easily compares to many supermodels in the industry. Bella Hadid has a net worth of roughly $25 million, whereas Hailey Bieber’s net worth goes up to $20 million. At the rate Gu is going, she will soon reach maybe even surpass Kendall Jenner’s amassed wealth of $45 Million.

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The Olympics boosted Gu’s popularity

This year Gu has added seven more brands, American and Chinese combined, to her portfolio, making her the face of 23 brands. Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, reportedly crashed as the number of searches for her name skyrocketed after the Olympic victory. The majority of the ads on the platform feature Gu, as she became the most popular celeb in China. Unsurprisingly, she is one of the highest-earning female athletes in the world. Recently, Gu appeared at the Met Gala 2022.

Her cross-cultural appeal, born to an American father and a Chinese mother, gives her an incredible opportunity to bridge two huge markets. Though she was born and raised in San Francisco, she speaks Mandarin fluently. Eileen Gu hits the golden trifecta when it comes to light that her intellectual capacity is not even a little shadowed by her other achievements. She will be pursuing further studies at Stanford University, a leading institute in America.

Certainly, Eileen Gu will become an even bigger name in the industry, be it skiing or modeling. 

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