Gu Ailing Photo: Li Hao/GT

Chinese skier Gu Ailing is now under the spotlight following her triumph in the Women's freeski big air final at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Tuesday, and Chinese social media users have also been showing great interest in the products she uses, including outfits, accessories, and even her nail design, which were trending on social media. 

The hash tag, "Gu's 'five Olympic rings' nail design," started trending on Sina Weibo as of Tuesday afternoon with almost 800,000 seraches, after close shots of Gu holding a golden mascot Bing Dwen Dwen on the podium with the five Olympic rings pattern on her nails went viral. 

"The 'five Olympic rings' nail design will become the hottest design this year," a Weibo user commented, while another one said that spectators are watching the game with magnifying glasses.

An employee from a Beijing-based nail salon told the Global Times on Tuesday that her studio has been receiving requests from potential customers asking to get the same design from Tuesday afternoon.

Several fashion accounts have been posting tutorials and recreating the nail art on social media platforms such as Douyin and lifestyle app Xiaohongshu, with likes on some popular posts exceeding 3,000.

Gu Ailing holds the Beijing 2022 mascot on the podium on February 8, with her "five Olympic rings" nail design clearly seen. Photo: VCG

The discussion around Gu's outfits and accessories, which she was wearing during the competition, was also witnessing a rising number of discussions and posts on Chinese social media. 

"I have the same rings that Gu was wearing, so I am close to be an Olympic champion," one social media user said. 

Meanwhile, brands like Anta Sports have also tagged Gu's name or "the same style as Gu" on some products on Chinese e-commerce platforms, including Taobao and JD.com. 

The Global Times found that an Anta sweatshirt tagged with "the same style as Gu" with Gu modeling for the product had sold more than 300 units over the past month. 

Moreover, the search popularity for the ski resort where Gu conducted her pre-race training on China's ticketing website LY.com also surged to 15 times higher than usual, according to the paper.cn.  

Gu herself is already a brand ambassador for a variety of companies across multiple fields, ranging from sports brands to apparel and even food, especially since 2021 onwards. 

According to some calculations, the current number of brand sponsors of Gu exceeds 20, far exceeding the number of sponsorships enjoyed by other first-tier entertainment stars, news portal yicai.com reported on Tuesday.