Shadowing Practice: Gu Ailing apologizes for being late to press conference after learning grandmother passed｜Olympics - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

Yeah, I'm so proud of how I've done this Olympics.

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Yeah, I'm so proud of how I've done this Olympics.

I joke, I'm not a betting woman,

but if I were, I took a big gamble this time

because I chose to do three events knowing that I hadn't trained halfpipe in two months,

knowing that I would miss the halfpipe training because in case I made big air finals,

which I also hadn't competed in in four years, mind you.

And so being able to really trust myself that when it came down to the moment,

I would be able to perform to the best of my ability regardless of metal color or metal in general.

But that's a big bet.

And also just the difficulty of competing in three events,

making finals in three events,

I had to compete six times.

And I kind of liken it to a marathon but the pace of a hundred meter dash.

Because every day is the Olympics.

I have to give 100% every day.

So there's no day that I can just chill a little because every day matters.

So I guess what I mean to say with

that is I have done something that I took a big risk in trusting myself and I'm glad that I did.

I walk away as the most decorated free skier of all time, male or female.

I have the most gold medals of any free skier ever, male or female.

And that is something that I'm so, so proud of.

It's unbelievable to me.

It's still surreal.

And so I appreciate all the people who support me and who hopefully take up free skiing maybe because of me,

or at least maybe heard about free skiing for the first time,

that those are the people who I do it for.

Otherwise, I just encourage people to use that energy

and direct it to something that makes the world better in their own way.

I think I'm making the most amount of good with the powers that I have as a 22-year-old athlete,

and I think in this way I'm benefiting the most people.

If people disagree with me,

if they have other skill sets,

which I'm sure they do,

then I encourage them to direct it elsewhere and to make the world better in their own way.

As young women, I think it is easy to doubt.

And I mean this as in like instilled,

you know, self instilled self doubt,

but also maybe external subtleties and like little micro things

that make you doubt yourself and over time make you afraid to try.

That's why we see rates of young women participating in sports drop off precipitously between the ages of 11 and 14.

And so as far as trusting yourself,

the power of sport is unparalleled because it is evidence over affirmation.

It's, you don't tell yourself,

oh, I can handle the pressure, oh, I'm so great.

You do it, time and again.

And another thing, you know,

I said this earlier in an interview,

I said sports are really honest because you can't lie to yourself.

You know when you stayed late and other people weren't there.

You know when you showed up early and other people weren't there.

You know when you gave 100% in training day in,

day out for months, for months.

And so it's not about,

you know, at the last second I tell myself a chipper little line and call it a day.

It's the fact that I look back on quite literally years,

like decade of hard work,

of pouring my heart and soul into this sport.

And so it's, yeah, it's trusting myself,

but it's building that trust every day.

And so that's a big reason why I encourage more young girls to get into sports,

because I think that the power it has to build and instill that confidence in people

is a really special and unique form.

Oh yeah, I guess I didn't answer the second question.

So it's Fashion Week in Milan,

so I have the other job, the other fashion thing.

No, no, I'm really excited to just explore some other avenues,

be creative, and explore my femininity through fashion,

which is something I've always loved,

and to kind of put that in juxtaposition with skiing and with sports,

and I think that they can coexist so beautifully,

And so I hope to represent that next week in Milan.

A big thing is I'm not afraid to try.

I take big risks and for the last two Olympics, it's worked out.

But even if it hadn't,

I think I left nothing on the table.

Like I know that looking back at this Olympics and the months that preceded it,

there's quite literally nothing that I could have done more.

Like I did everything I could every single day,

every single thing that I could.

Like, if you can think of something,

like, oh, I should do this now, I've done it.

I have done every single thing I could possibly do for this Olympics.

And so, it's like if things didn't go my way,

I wouldn't regret feeling unprepared.

I wouldn't regret feeling like I could have done more.

And so that, I also think,

instills a bit of confidence in you,

because you can never control the result,

you can never control the outcome,

but you can control the preparation,

and most importantly, you can fall in love with the process.

I'm so proud of you.

I'm very happy.

I always say that I have a medal in the prize,

a medal in the prize.

It's very difficult.

So, I have a medal in the prize.

It's just six times, 100% of the prize.

This is a challenge for me.

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I don't want to say that.

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I think I can't say that.

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I can only control my day every day.

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Then I liked it later in a bunch of the games where they probably come from the seventh championship.

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In this series we começa

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because of what I think there is a lot of camp

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From each other I think they are at by turning around to watch our game which I think is important.

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I make reviews for the world and also support the Chinese?

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Brad Manfeya first and again to share the content that works like the G pleas.

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The G漂亮!

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Thank you, Charlotte.

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That's very kind.

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Oh, man.

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Do I think?

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I think overall I'm just a pensive person.

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Like, I'm a very introspective I'm an introspective young woman like I spend a lot of time in my head

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And it's not a bad place to be I journal a lot.

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I break down all of my thought processes I think I apply a very analytical lens to my own thinking

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and I kind of modify it Because it's so interesting you can control what you think

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Like you can control how you think

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and therefore you can control who you are and especially as a young person like I'm 22 too.

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So with neuroplasticity on my side,

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I can literally become exactly who I want to be.

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How cool is that?

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Like how empowering is that?

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Right?

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And so the fact is I get to become every day the kind of person that me at age eight would revere.

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Like I would be obsessed with me today.

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Are you kidding?

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I would love me.

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And I think that's the biggest flex of all time

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that you can have like little younger you be proud of you today.

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And so I guess for me,

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it's like, yes, I spend a lot of time in my own head.

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Yes, I think a lot,

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but it's not really like in an egotistical kind of way.

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It's in like a tinkering,

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like a scientist kind of way.

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I'm always trying to modify.

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I'm trying to think how can I be better?

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How can I approach my own brain the way that I approach my craft of free skiing

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so that I can be better tomorrow than I was today?

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Yeah, I think for me,

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global beneficial impact is like my central theme.

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And there are a lot of different avenues that anybody can do that.

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And I think it's more assessing your individual skillset and trying to say,

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okay, what is the way that I can,

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as a person, do the most good in the world.

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So right now, I'm young,

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I'm energetic, my body is physically as capable as it can be compared to 30 years down the line.

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So it makes the most sense for me to do that through the avenues that I'm exploring now,

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fashion, sport, and skiing.

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Down the line, I think it will absolutely take a different form.

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Yeah, I think as I age and as I grow,

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and the avenue of highest optimization will change will change.

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I'm not going to be too specific in answering that because I don't want to commit myself to something,

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but do I have ideas?

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Yes, absolutely.

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So when I had this press conference four years ago,

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a lot of it was theoretical.

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I say, I want to inspire more girls to try skiing.

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I don't even need to do that anymore because now we can just look at the numbers.

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350 million people tried snow sports for the first time.

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There's double-digit increase growth in the industry,

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both in terms of snow sport impressions,

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in terms of sponsorships, money in the sport.

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This is huge because it's not just about,

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okay, it is about there's people in China,

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there are kids in China,

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there are girls in China whose lives are going to be touched by the beautiful and wonderful power of sport.

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So that in and of itself is absolutely measured impact that I think I had always wanted.

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I reached that goal and I exceeded it.

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The second thing is within the the ski industry,

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there are more eyes on this sport than there were four years ago.

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There are more people paying attention to it now.

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The fact is a rising tide raises all boats.

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And so this is also good for every other athlete competing,

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regardless of what country you compete for.

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And so that kind of mentality of,

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I want to bring the sport to more people,

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to hopefully benefit people outside the sport,

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and also be able to give back to my own community,

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free skiing, and everybody who partakes in it now.

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As a competitor, I don't want to generalize,

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but as a competitor myself,

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I think we yearn, the thing we yearn for most is a worthy opponent.

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I think there's something so beautiful in that.

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It's not about beating other people,

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but it's about this sense of healthy competition.

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That's what sportsmanship is.

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That's what the Olympics are about.

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If I went to a middle school and beat everybody at free skiing there,

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it's not exciting for anybody.

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What's exciting is that year after year,

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we get to see the progression of a sport as the average of everybody

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and everybody's average rises and we all get better.

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And maybe the people at the top are contributing a little bit more,

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but everybody is contributing to that growth.

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And that's something that's really special to me.

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So do I welcome that?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I mean, I love to compete.

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I love to compete.

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I love to win, but I love to compete and I love to ski.

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And so if I were to put that in order,

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I would say I love to ski first and then I love to compete and then I love to win.

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But at my heart and soul, I like to ski.

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Yeah.

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And then I know you said that was the last question,

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but I just want to say something really quickly.

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The reason I was late is that I just found out that my grandma passed away.

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And she was like a really,

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she was a really big part of my life growing up.

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And someone I looked up to immensely.

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She was such a strong, she was a fighter.

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And I think what's so interesting is that a lot of people just cruise through life.

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But she was a steamship.

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Like this woman commanded life.

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And she grabbed it by the reins.

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And she made it into what she wanted it to be.

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and she inspired me so much.

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The last time I saw her,

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before I came to the Olympics,

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she was very sick, so I knew that this was a possibility.

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I didn't promise her that I was going to win,

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but I did promise her that I was going to be brave.

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She has been brave, and that's why I keep referring to this theme of betting on myself

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and being brave and taking risks.

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It actually goes back to that promise that I made my grandma,

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and so I'm really happy that I was able to uphold that and hopefully do her proud,

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but it's also a really difficult time for me now So I really apologize for being late,

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but that's what was going on.

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Sorry.

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Guo Zhengfeng.

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Yeah, that's my middle name, Feng, for her.

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Guo Eling, Sheshe for sharing your emotions with us.

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That's all what we have for today.

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Thanks for attending on-site or online.

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And these are the last words from Livinio Snowpark press conference room.

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Stop the live stream now.

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Thank you.

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Shadowing Practice: Gu Ailing apologizes for being late to press conference after learning grandmother passed｜Olympics - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Shadowing Practice: Gu Ailing apologizes for being late to press conference after learning grandmother passed｜Olympics - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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About This Lesson

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

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What is the Shadowing Technique?