San Francisco raised her, American taxpayers funded her education, and the United States gave her every opportunity she ever had.
Now she's standing in an Italian press room representing Communist China – and when a reporter dared ask a reasonable question, she laughed in his face.
What Eileen Gu said next is the kind of answer that tells you everything about who she really is.
The American Who Chose the CCP
Gu trained on American slopes, competed for American teams, and built her name in a free country that gave her every advantage.
Then in 2019, she made a choice.
She switched her allegiance to the People's Republic of China – the same government running concentration camps for Uyghur Muslims, the same regime that silenced doctors who tried to warn the world about COVID, the same Communist Party that crushed democracy in Hong Kong.
Her explanation at the time: she wanted to "inspire young girls" in her mother's homeland.
The real explanation came out later in a leaked government budget document – one the CCP quickly scrubbed from the internet once people started reading it.
The $14 Million Reason
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau paid Gu and fellow American-born skater Beverly Zhu a combined $6.6 million in 2025 alone – specifically to compete in these Milan Olympics.
Over three years, the two American-born athletes reportedly collected nearly $14 million from the Chinese government.
That budget document was briefly posted online before Chinese censors deleted it.
Think about that for a second.
China doesn't allow dual citizenship – which means Gu should have surrendered her American passport the moment she chose the red flag.
She never appeared on the U.S. Treasury's list of citizens who renounce their nationality.
So either she secretly gave up her American citizenship and won't tell you, or the CCP made a special secret deal just for her – one they gave no other Chinese citizen.
JD Vance said it plainly on Fox News: "I would hope that someone who grew up in the United States of America, who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that make this country a great place, would want to compete with the United States of America."
He was being polite.
The Most Obnoxious Laugh In An Olympic Press Conference History
Now she's in Milan with two silver medals and one event left, and a reporter asked her a completely fair question.
"Do you see this as two silvers gained or two golds lost?"
Gu laughed at him.
Then she delivered this: "The two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think is kind of a ridiculous perspective to take. I'm showcasing my best skiing, I'm doing things that quite literally have never been done before so I think that is more than good enough."
She also reminded him she's "the most decorated female freeskier in history."
What she didn't do – what she has never once done – is say a single critical word about the Chinese Communist Party.
She criticized Trump over his comments about American skier Hunter Hess.
She lectures about the Olympic spirit and "bringing people together."
But ask her about Uyghur concentration camps? She told TIME magazine: "I'm not an expert on this. I haven't done the research. I don't think it's my business."
Two American Girls, Two Different Choices
Look at what she chose instead.
Alysa Liu – also California-born, also the daughter of a Chinese immigrant – chose to represent the United States.
Her father fled China after the Tiananmen Square massacre, searched for freedom in America, and found it.
When Chinese intelligence agents discovered Liu was competing at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, they surveilled her – a 16-year-old girl, spied on by the CCP on U.S. soil.
She still wore the American flag.
Eileen Gu had the same choice.
She picked the paycheck – an estimated $23 million in 2025, nearly all from endorsements including the Bank of China, while living in the United States, attending Stanford, and staying silent about every atrocity committed by the government whose flag she wears on that ski suit.
Enes Kanter Freedom – a man who actually knows what it costs to stand up to authoritarian governments – called it exactly what it is: "She chose to play for a country responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of its own people, and literally running a concentration camp while we're talking."
That reporter in Milan wasn't being ridiculous.
He was the only one in the room asking the right question.
And in four years, when the next Winter Olympics rolls around and Eileen Gu is back in that press room wearing the red flag, collecting another government check, and refusing to say a word about concentration camps – she'll laugh off that question too.
Sources:
- Warner Todd Huston, "China's Eileen Gu Triggered by Reporter's Question over 'Lost Gold' at Olympics," Breitbart, February 18, 2026.
- Jackson Thompson, "Eileen Gu Garners Backlash for Commenting on Trump's Statement While Representing China," Fox News, February 10, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "Eileen Gu Says She's Been 'Physically Assaulted' Over Representing China Instead of US at Olympics," Fox News, February 19, 2026.
- National Review Staff, "American-Born Skier Eileen Gu Gets Paid Millions by the Chinese Government," National Review, February 14, 2026.
- Scott Pinsker, "The Eileen Gu Question: Should American-Born Olympians Who Represent China Keep Their U.S. Citizenship?" PJ Media, February 16, 2026.
- Daily Caller Staff, "JD Vance Has Perfect Response to Eileen Gu, American-Born Athlete Competing for China," The Daily Caller, February 18, 2026.
- Wall Street Journal reporting via Yahoo Sports, "Winter Olympics 2026: China Reportedly Paid U.S.-Born Athletes, Including Eileen Gu, Nearly $14 Million," Yahoo Sports, February 14, 2026.
