Controversial and Olympian Eileen Gu, who grew up in the United States but competes for China as the highest-paid competitor at the Milan Cortina Games, has gone viral this week for a response she gave to a reporter who asked if she saw her two medal wins so far at the Winter Olympics as “two silvers gained or two golds lost.”
Key Facts
- In the now-viral clip, Gu openly laughs at the reporter’s question before saying, “I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that’s an answer in and of itself.”
- She then goes on to say “winning a medal at the Olympics is a life changing experience for every athlete,” adding “the ‘two medals lost’ situation, to be quite frank with you, is kind of a ridiculous perspective to take.”
- Gu said that she was not only showcasing her best skiing at the Milan Cortina Games, where she has won silver medals in Big Air and Slopestyle events, but is “doing things that have quite literally never been done before, and I think that is more than good enough.”
- Her answer has been shared by outlets like Yahoo Sports and The Female Quotient and has racked up millions of views with tens of thousands of supportive comments praising the 22-year-old for her poise under pressure.
Key Background
Gu became the most decorated women’s freestyle skiing Olympian in history this week with her fourth and fifth Olympic medals after winning three, one gold and two silvers, at the 2022 Beijing Games, which made her the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Games.
The athlete has stirred up controversy for her decision to compete for China, her mother’s home country, since 2019 despite the fact Gu herself was born and raised in the United States and is a student at an American college. She says she’s been attacked on campus at Stanford University over her choice, received death threats and had her dorm robbed. Gu, already the highest-paid Olympian at this year’s games, was again the subject of controversy last week when the Wall Street Journal reported she was set to receive a direct payment from the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau.
In a public budget, the names of Gu and another athlete were accidentally revealed in a line item showing they’d be paid a combined $6.6 million for “striving for excellent results in qualifying for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics.” In total, the Chinese bureau was set to pay the pair nearly 100 million yuan, or $14 million, over the last three years.
Big Number
$23 million. That’s how much Gu earned last year, Forbes reported, making her this cycle’s highest-paid winter Olympian by several million dollars. The vast majority of her income comes from endorsements, including Chinese brands Anta, Bosideng, Mengniu Dairy and Luckin Coffee.
Crucial Quote
“In the U.S. growing up, I had so many idols to look up to, but in China, I feel like there are a lot fewer of those,” Gu said at her last Olympics. “I’d have a much greater impact in China than in the U.S., and that’s ultimately why I made my decision.”
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This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
