LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- After advancing to the women's big air final Saturday here at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing voiced frustration with the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), saying the event schedule unfairly overlaps with her halfpipe training time.
"The one thing I'm a little bummed about is that now I've made finals, the [big air] final is actually completely overlapping with my halfpipe training, completely three hours - and this actually happened at the last Olympics," said Gu, who won gold medals in big air and halfpipe at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Gu is the only female freeskier in Livigno competing in all three park & pipe events - big air, slopestyle and halfpipe. She said she had communicated with FIS about the scheduling conflict between the big air final and halfpipe training but her proposal was rejected.
"I've asked them if I could do an hour [of halfpipe training] on my own or find some kind of fair solution. I even said if I don't make into the big air final, I won't take the extra training and I will make sure it's fair," Gu said.
"Everybody should get nine hours [of training]. I think it's really unfair. I think it's punishing excellence, because I dare to do three events and it's making it impossible for me to train fairly," she added.
Gu said a similar situation occurred at Beijing 2022, where she rushed between obligations and did not even have time to eat properly, at one point eating a chives pancake at the venue.
Images of her eating the pancake were widely discussed on social media platforms, though she said few people understood that it was due to the training schedule conflict.
She noted that big air and slopestyle require very different technical preparation compared to halfpipe. Gu said she is proud to compete in three events at two Olympics, but acknowledged the challenge of balancing preparation. Since December last year, she has paused training in her primary event, halfpipe, to focus on slopestyle. She also said she had not taken big air training before arriving in Livigno.
"I'm upset with FIS, not upset, I'm disappointed in FIS," Gu said.
"I think the Olympics should epitomize aspiration, and I think being able to do something that is beyond the ordinary should be celebrated, instead of punished," she added.
