Having graduated from Stanford University in June, six-time Olympic medallist Eileen Gu is already in a cerebral state of mind. Making an appearance on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, she described her approach to competition as “extremely psychological”.
Breaking down the method behind her rather orderly and organised madness – if you can even call it that – the San Francisco-born freestyle skiing star from the People’s Republic of China outlined the simple mantra she’s lived by her entire career.
“I have a saying, ‘Train like I’ve never won and compete like I’ve never lost’,” she began. “That’s important because… I find it’s difficult to win, but it’s way harder to stay there.
“So much happens between age 18 and 22,” added the freeskier with gold medals from two different editions of the Olympic Winter Games. “Staying in peak form during that period of your life, specifically as a woman, is very, very difficult.
”From my last Olympics to now, I went through all of college. Like, I was a high school grad and now I’m a college grad… that’s just two different people.”
While that might be true off the piste, Gu has continuously maintained the same high level of skiing that saw her breakthrough first at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games and later become a dominant force at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
Despite taking time off between then and this year’s Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, Gu didn’t miss a beat. In Italy, she showcased both her evolution and consistency, defending her halfpipe gold from Beijing 2022, along with silver in slopestyle and big air.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/triple-olympic-champion-eileen-gu-mindset-freeski-success
