Sébastien Le Belzic (on site), edited by Gauthier Delomez 10:23 a.m., February 08, 2022

This is a great novelty for the host country of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

China has in its ranks dozens of foreign naturalized Chinese athletes, such as Americans or Canadians.

Among them, the skier Eileen Gu who won Tuesday in big air skiing.

The freestyle skier is also a star in her adopted country.

Additional assets in China's game.

Foreign athletes have chosen to take Chinese nationality to defend the red and yellow colors of the Middle Kingdom country at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

This is particularly the case of the star Eileen Gu, crowned Tuesday in freestyle skiing ahead of the French Tess Ledeux.

Barely of age, skier Eileen Gu was born in the United States, in San Francisco, and with her light hair and her Californian accent, she carries all the hopes of China in the freestyle ski events.

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Star Eileen Gu speaks in a now mastered Mandarin

At 18, Eileen Gu renounced her American nationality to compete under the colors of her mother's native country.

Until a few years ago, her hesitant Mandarin left Chinese fans cold, but today she speaks without an accent.

"I believe that for everyone, skiing is a hobby, for me too", she says in the language of Confucius.

"It's not a profession, but something I like to do. So you should never see sport as something you have to do. You have to want to train instead", continues the athlete.

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A recent and surprising phenomenon

Eileen Gu is a major asset for China.

The freestyle skier is making headlines, and she's become the face of many big Chinese brands.

The big air ski star is not the only one to have gone East.

In the men's ice hockey team, 15 out of 25 players have been naturalized, including Americans, Canadians and Russians.

On the side of the women's team, they are 13 out of 25. A recent and surprising phenomenon in this country which refuses dual nationality, and where race and passport are readily assimilated.

This trend should also allow the organizing country to appear well in the medal ranking.