For the 22-year-old, the honor carries deep personal meaning rooted in her childhood and her connection to the city where she was born and raised.<\/p>\n
“I’m so excited. The San Francisco Chinese New Year parade is, like, none other,” Gu said during an exclusive one-on-one interview with ABC7 Eyewitness News anchor Kristen Sze in the Mission District. “I grew up watching it, and the entire city knows what’s happening, because the sound, the cheering, the sights, the smells, the brightness, it’s really unparalleled.”<\/p>\n
Gu, a three-time Olympic champion and six-time medalist who recently added three more medals at the Milan-Cortina Games, said the grand marshal role is unlike anything she has done before. “This is a special thing to be Grand Marshal, and be part of it,” she said.<\/p>\n
RELATED: San Francisco’s Eileen Gu wins 6th Olympic medal; later learns her grandmother died<\/a><\/p>\n Even with her reputation for fearlessness on the slopes, Gu admitted one part of her parade role makes her a bit nervous: lighting the ceremonial firecrackers. “A little bit? Um, I’m sure there are safety precautions that I’m going to get briefed on,” she said. “But yeah, first time handling explosives, I will say.”<\/p>\n Gu’s ties to San Francisco run deep. She attended Katherine Delmar Burke School for K-8 and then San Francisco University High School, where she ran cross country and track, played basketball, and developed a love for the city’s trails and coastline.<\/p>\n “San Francisco is such a special city, and I will not shut up about it to anybody who will listen,” she said.<\/p>\n She recalled attending the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade as a child, even meeting then-Mayor, now Governor Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n
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