EILEEN GU

In a candid interview, Gu discusses her Olympic triumph, the criticism she faced for competing for China, and how she’s trying to maintain the normal life of a first-year college student

On Thursday, freestyle skiing superstar Eileen Gu started her college career in California at Stanford University. Gu, 19, celebrated the occasion on Thursday by sharing pictures of herself in a Stanford shirt with her mother Han Gu, who also attended Stanford as an MBA candidate, and her grandmother on Instagram in a post captioned, “Day one❤️.” It was her mother’s relocation to the Bay Area that “accidentally created a pro skier,” Gu told Forbes.

Gu, who represented China in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing rather than her native U.S., continues to take flack for the decision.

Eileen Gu won two gold medals for China in freestyle skiing at the recent Beijing Olympics.

A recent social media post from Olympic skier Eileen Gu in which she says goodbye to China after months of making it her home for the Beijing Winter Games has drawn both plaudits and criticism. Gu, who won two gold medals and one silver medal while representing China this year, is making her way back to the U.S. to begin her studies at Stanford University. On April 27, she shared a post to Weibo saying, “Thank you China,” with emojis of the Chinese flag and a red heart, along with a series of photos from her time in the country.

A now-viral video shows a man seemingly trying to stop Olympic gold medalist skier Eileen Gu from leaving after they take a selfie together in Beijing. The 18-year-old athlete, who often jogs around the city’s streets, was accompanied by her mother riding a bicycle at the time of the incident, which occurred on Chaoyang Road. The man, who goes by Dong Bei Xing Ge on Douyin, received backlash on Chinese social media after the clip of his encounter with Gu became widely circulated online.

Some of China's state media reporters are identifying as travel bloggers and lifestyle influencers on U.S.-owned social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Whether on the Olympic stage or the home hill, women on skis demonstrate what sportsmanship, bravery, and self-love could look like

Whether on the Olympic stage or the home hill, women on skis demonstrate what sportsmanship, bravery, and self-love could look like

A pile of figure-skating rubble created by Russian misbehavior.

Women are approaching gender parity at the Winter Games, They've also dominated news coverage, because of powerhouse stars like Eileen Gu and because of tragic cases like Kamila Valieva.

As the world watches the Beijing Olympics, the story of a chained woman who appeared in a video in rural China has continued to grow.

While Chinese Americans think Gu shouldn’t have to pick a side, nationalists in China want to know where her allegiances lie.

Eileen Gu turned the Beijing Olympics into her own personal playground.

Eileen Gu turned the Beijing Olympics into her own personal playground. The American-born Gu came into the Games hoping to win three gold medals in freestyle skiing while representing China, where her mother was born. The 18-year-old Gu capped her global coming-out party Friday by winning the gold medal in women’s halfpipe.

Eileen Gu captured Olympic gold in the women’s ski halfpipe final to become the first action-sports athlete to pick up three medals at the same Winter Games.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has criticized Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's entourage for their “tremendous coldness” toward the 15-year-old skater after her mistake-filled free skate at the Beijing Olympics. Bach says it was “chilling” to see on television. Valieva, who has been at the center of a controversy over a positive doping test, finished fourth overall despite placing first in the women's short program earlier in the week.

Olympic freestyle skier Eileen Gu is ready to impress her grandmother, who has never seen the teen compete, in the upcoming halfpipe competition. The 18-year-old describes her grandmother, who played basketball during her college years, as a “fiercely confident” woman who is “happy all the time,” reported Reuters. Although the young athlete has managed to pull an impressive record with her performances at the Beijing Olympics so far, Gu says that her grandmother would still prefer that she become a lawyer or doctor.

American-born skier Eileen Gu defended her decision to compete for China at the Beijing Olympics despite China’s human rights abuses on Thursday.

The Winter Olympics are being held in Beijing, but most of the population is shut out because of coronavirus restrictions.

The women’s figure skating event ends Thursday — the competition portion, at least.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations blasted American-born skier Eileen Gu for competing for China at the Winter Olympics.

Eileen Gu has become as good at avoiding answers to difficult questions as she is in freestyle skiing. She has one gold and one silver at the Beijing Olympics and one event to go.

Ding Peng, a leading quantitative investor in China, said he didn't want his son to grow up living a "hard life" studying all the time, the way he did.

This was one Olympic final you could plan ahead for.

China's Olympic athletes were once overwhelmingly the product of hardscrabble backgrounds and sports academies. That is starting to change.

Russian teenager Kamila Valieva was on the ice for a final run-through of her short program hours before one of the most-anticipated events of the Beijing Olympics.

She is an exceptional athlete who has already won gold and silver in the Beijing Olympics

She is an exceptional athlete who has already won gold and silver in the Beijing Olympics.

Su Yiming gave host China its second gold medal at Big Air Shougang to match Eileen Gu with a stunning show at the repurposed steel mill while winning the country’s first top prize in Olympic snowboarding.

Su Yiming gave host China its second gold medal at Big Air Shougang, matching Eileen Gu with a stunning show in front of fans at the repurposed steel mill and winning the country’s first top prize in Olympic snowboarding. The 17-year-old child actor-turned-rider followed up his unexpected silver in slopestyle — he would’ve taken gold if not for a judging blunder — by joining Gu in cementing his celebrity status with a big air gold. Gu won the freestyle skiing best-trick contest last week on her final jump, and the celebration briefly broke Chinese social media website Weibo.

Social media users in China are blasting Chinese American figure skating star Nathan Chen, with many calling him a “traitor” for representing the United States at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Chen drew heavy criticism on Chinese social media platform Weibo after winning his first Olympic gold medal in the individual figure skating program and helping the U.S. team secure the silver medal in the team figure skating competition last week, reported Yahoo Sports. Many Chinese fans unfavorably compared Chen to U.S. born athletes competing for Team China at the Winter Olympics, such as 18-year-old freestyle skier Eileen Gu and 19-year-old figure skater Zhu Yi.

U.S.-born athletes have taken centerstage at the Winter Olympics in Beijing — for the host country, that is, generating scrutiny of nationality switching.

China made its Olympics debut in men’s ice hockey, but it’s not clear if the outmatched team consisting mostly of foreign players is kindling a passion for the sport in the country.

Trying for three gold medals in one Olympics is a hectic business. China's burgeoning freestyle superstar munched on a fried leek dumpling while she awaited her score in the slopestyle contest. After a mistake-filled trip down the supesized slopestyle course that put her qualifying in jeopardy, Gu nailed the second one.

Who gets to play for a country's national team at the Winter Olympics is an especially complicated question in China, where issues of identity, ethnicity, and citizenship are at stake.

The Winter Olympics finally look like the Winter Olympics.

Across two pandemic Olympics set in Asian countries, Asian American woman fronting the Games have encountered a whiplashing duality — prized on the global stage for their medal-winning talent, buffeted by the escalating crisis of racist abuse at home.

The United States has clinched the top seed in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament.

Sunday is a sports bonanza for NBC, which is airing the Super Bowl in addition to the Winter Olympics.

“Cry ab it.”View Entire Post ›

Chinese reax

The freestyle skiing gold medalist from San Francisco has faced plenty of backlash from Americans after choosing to compete for Team China in Beijing.

Nathan Chen flipped, whirled and even punched his way to a world-record score in the men’s figure skating short program at the Beijing Olympics.

The 18-year-old stunned Tess Ledeux of France to win the Olympic debut of women's freeski big air, at the Beijing Games.

A French journalist says his exclusive interview with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai this week did not prove that she is OK.

Two American-born athletes competing for China.

Gu, who is American born to a Chinese mother, is representing China during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She has competed under the Chinese flag since 2019.

China is fielding naturalized athletes at the Beijing Games in an effort to popularize winter sports and be represented across the Olympic program.

Eileen Gu momentarily paused her gold medal celebration in the big air freestyle to console Tess Ledeux alongside bronze medalist Mathilde Gremaud.

Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai sat with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and watched American-born Chinese freeskier Eileen Gu win gold at the women’s big air event.

American-born Eileen Gu earned the first of what she and her many fans in Beijing hope could be three gold medals for China by cranking out the first 1620 of her career in the Olympic debut of women's freestyle skiing big air.

It’s time for the United States vs.

Despite making her intentions known in 2019, freestyle ski star Eileen Gu’s decision to compete for China at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics still continues to spark heated discussions online. Fellow athletes in the sport have been asking the 18-year-old why she decided to represent a country accused of human rights abuse, reported the New York Post. Born to an American father and Chinese mother in San Francisco, Gu last represented the United States at 16, when she earned her first World Cup victory at Seiser Alm Slopestyle in 2019.

At the Beijing Olympic Games, it’s a homecoming of sorts for one of the world’s most sprawling diasporas.