San Francisco-born Olympian Eileen Gu, now competing in her second Olympic Games at age 22, reveals in a new interview that she has faced harassment and even death threats over her choice to ski for China instead of the US.
It was clear after the 2022 Beijing Olympics that freestyle skier Eileen Gu would likely be a star of these Olympics as well. And while she's American-born to an American father and Chinese mother, she opted to begin skiing for her mother's home country in 2019, and has ever since.
At this year's games, she has so far notched two silver medals for China, one in Freeski Slopestyle and one in Big Air — the latter of which she won a gold medal for in 2022.
In a new interview with The Athletic, Gu says, "I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever."
Gu began attending Stanford after the 2022 Olympic Games, and after she had already achieved some international fame. She talks about the petition that was started by other Chinese American students and parents of prospective students to keep her from being enrolled at the school — which is her mother's alma mater, and where she was actually accepted in December 2020, via early admission.
Gu says that while at Stanford, police had to be called after she was "physically assaulted on the street." And, she adds, "I’ve had death threats. I’ve had my dorm robbed."
Stanford's public safety department has not commented on the matter or confirmed any details.
Gu explains that her decision to ski for China, when she was only 15, was not made out of any consideration for the financial support she might receive from Chinese companies. She said that as an athlete growing up in America, "I had so many idols to look up to... But in China, I feel like there are a lot fewer of those. I’d have a much greater impact in China than in the U.S., and that’s ultimately why I made my decision."
And, she tells The Athletic, "My biggest goal has always been to bring the sport to more young people, especially girls."
But many still question the purity of her motives.
Chinese fans call her The Snow Princess, and her fame is undeniable, likely eclipsing most of her Olympic peers — something that has led to her raking in around $23 million a year in sponsorships and modeling gigs. As The Athletic puts it, "With a footprint in two of the world’s most populous countries, Gu is a sports marketer’s dream."
Gu, who already has five medals, more than any other freeskier ever, has one more shot at gold on Saturday night in the women's halfpipe event.
Top image: Silver medalist Ailing Eileen Gu of Team Republic of China is seen during the medal ceremony for the Women's Freeski Big Air on day ten of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Livigno Snow Park on February 16, 2026 in Livigno, Italy (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
