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With his long hair, his rings and his baggy pants, he can claim the title of the coolest Chinese sportsman: on Tuesday became Olympic champion in big air snowboarding, Su Yiming dusted off the image of sportsmen in his country at the age of 17.
Eileen Gu now has competition: the Chinese-American star of freestyle skiing, double medalist at the Olympics-2022 found herself in the shadow of Su Yiming who won gold on Tuesday in the big air, a week after a silver medal in slopestyle.
In the process, he gained phenomenal popularity among his compatriots: a few hours after his victory, the hashtag “Su Yiming gold medal” had been seen 750 million times on the Weibo social network.
The snowboarder embodies a new generation of Chinese athletes, with a more relaxed appearance than many of their colleagues trained in national institutes using Soviet methods.
“The most important thing is love. Snowboarding is not just about competition, ”summarized the interested party on Tuesday after his victory.
His displayed carelessness and his passion for hip-hop seduced his compatriots to whom he seeks to introduce and love snowboarding, an individualistic and reckless discipline if ever there was one.
His sport has its roots in the Californian counterculture, like its cousin surfing.
“Snowboarders have a particular style, to which Su Yiming adapts perfectly. It’s something that resonates with younger generations in China and elsewhere,” remarks Mark Dreyer, a Chinese sports specialist.
Last week, pushing the relaxation a little far, he shouted “What the fuck!” (“fucking shit”) in English live on television at the announcement of his first place in slopestyle.
Child prodigy
Su Yiming is used to fame for having made movies at the age of eight in a patriotic film: “The Battle of Tiger Mountain”.
Originally from the icy northeast, he put on his first board when he was very young before joining the national team at the age of 14.
Relentless, he told the press that he trains “320 days a year”, sometimes six hours a day. When he is not abroad, he spends the summer on the tropical island of Hainan (south), where he perfects his surfing.
His golden youth side has sparked comments on social networks, where some compare him unfavorably to the diver Quan Hongchan, Olympic medalist at the Summer Games in Tokyo, who said he needed money to be able to pay the hospital bills of his mother.
While Beijing continues to favor the disciplines with the most medals, the regime has somewhat loosened its grip in certain disciplines, particularly those related to winter sports.
This has allowed the market to develop interest in sports that are more appealing to younger generations who have grown up affluent, notes Jinming Zheng, professor of sports management at the National Institute of Education in Singapore.
It remains to be seen how far athletes like Su Yiming can go.
“My concern is that at some point, we make him fit into the mold and that he becomes a snowboarder without personality”, worries Mr. Dreyer.
“He has all the attributes to become a great ambassador of Chinese influence, but maybe not the kind that China wants.”
