Eileen Gu - The 'snow Princess' Who Divides Opinion
ByKatie Falkingham
BBC Sport Senior Journalist in Livigno
Updated 22 February 2026
Wherever Eileen Gu goes, her fans will follow. Headlines will too.
With 6 medals, consisting of three golds - the 3rd of which she won in Sunday's halfpipe - she is the most decorated freestyle skier in the history of the Games.
But she is likewise somebody who transcends her sport, a 22-year-old global super star with a to make your eyes water.
China fell for its 'snow princess' at the Beijing 2022 Olympics where, as the poster girl of the Games, she properly delivered.
She ended up being freestyle skiing's youngest Olympic champion with her huge air and halfpipe golds at the age of 18, and the very first to win three medals at the same Games when she added slopestyle silver.
Later that year, she was named among Time publication's 100 most prominent individuals on the planet.
"I similar to being the finest. I've always wanted to do that," stated Gu at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, where she earlier won silver medals in the huge air and slopestyle.
"I wanted to be the finest at math when I was in kindergarten, and after that I desired to enter into the very best high school, and I wanted to have the greatest SAT score, and after that I wanted to get to the very best college, and I wished to be the very best skier I could be.
"Then I wished to do every occasion, and after that I wanted to win them all. When you get a taste of it, it's sort of addictive."
The two Chinese-American Olympians completing for rival superpowers
13 February
On and off skis, Gu is a high achiever in every part of her world.
California-born and raised by an American father and Chinese mom, she attended private school in San Francisco and is currently taking a sabbatical from her studies at Stanford University, where she majors in worldwide relations and previously studied quantum physics.
She is likewise fluent in Mandarin, and as a child would invest summer seasons in Beijing.
"Sometimes it seems like I'm bring the weight of 2 countries on my shoulders," Gu stated previously in the 2026 Games.
In 2019, at the age of simply 15, she changed her sporting obligation from the US to China, wishing to "motivate millions of young individuals in Beijing - my mom's birth place" before the 2022 Olympics.
Whatever her thinking, it was a decision that showed profitable.
In December, Forbes ranked Gu as the fourth-highest paid female athlete for 2025, behind just tennis players Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.
But unlike those 3, only a small amount of her $23.1 m (₤ 17.1 m) earnings in 2015 originated from reward cash from her sport - around $100,000 (₤ 74,000).
Instead, it comes through recommendations with brand names such as Red Bull, Porsche and Tiffany & Co, while she has actually walked the runway for Louis Vuitton and Victoria's Secret and is signed by modelling firm IMG.
It also emerged in 2025, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, external, that Gu and another athlete were set to be paid a combined $6.6 m (₤ 4.9 m) by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau.
In overall, the two professional athletes were stated to be paid almost $14m (₤ 10.4 m) over the past three years by the Bureau.
But her decision to compete for China was also one that drew much criticism, not even if of China and the US' rivalry as the world's 2 most significant economies, but since of China's authoritarian Communist Party rulers and its poor record on human rights - which it denies.
While the initial furore waned, it has raised its head again at these Games.
At the start of the Olympics, American freestyle skier Hunter Hess spoke up about the actions of the United States' Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) organisation and ongoing stress in the US.
In January, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, and fellow Minnesota local Renee Good, 37, were both killed by ICE agents in the city, triggering widespread demonstrations.
Asked what it implies to represent the USA, Hess said: "It's a little difficult.
"Just since I'm using the flag does not imply I represent everything that's going on in the US."
President Donald Trump reacted to Hess' comment by calling him a "genuine loser", and Gu was among numerous athletes who openly defended Hess and others speaking up.
"As somebody who's been caught in the crossfire previously, I pity the professional athletes," she stated.
But that infuriated her critics, provided Gu selected to speak out versus Trump but has actually never criticised China.
Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom called her a "traitor", including she "was born in America, raised in America, lives in America and chose to contend against her own nation for the worst human rights abuser in the world - China".
"You don't get to enjoy the liberties of US citizenship while serving as a worldwide PR possession for the Chinese Communist Party," he composed on X.
When asked about China's human rights record by Time magazine, external, in an interview released in January, she addressed: "I'm not a specialist on this.
"I have not done the research study. I do not think it's my organization."
A 'outrageous viewpoint' and 'frustrating choices'
Gu has 2.6 m fans on Instagram, has accumulated 11.7 m likes on TikTok, and at the Livigno Snow Park high up in the Italian Alps, no professional athlete has more fans in participation.
Clad in the red colours of China, they line the front of the fan areas, flags decorated with pictures of Gu's face pegged to the fences, and commemorate her every run like it has actually clinched Olympic gold.
After every run, the ever-driven and disciplined Gu looks for her mom, Yan, to evaluate video footage on her phone. Yan, supposedly an effective venture capitalist who brought her child up single-handledly, is certified at the Games and is the first individual Gu celebrates her successes with.
During Monday's big air last, Yan was seen seeing together with former International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
After competitions, Gu is the one every media outlet wants to talk to, and she with dignity and pleasantly requires as she gradually shuffles through the blended zone.
But it was from a press conference previously this week that her remarks to a journalist went viral, when she was asked if she felt her 2 silver medals were actually two golds lost.
"I'm the most embellished female freeskier in history. I think that's an answer in and of itself," she responded.
"How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every single professional athlete. Doing it 5 times is greatly harder since every medal is similarly hard for me but everyone else's expectations increase, right?
"So the two medals lost scenario, to be rather frank with you, I believe is sort of a ludicrous point of view to take.
"I'm showcasing my best snowboarding, I'm doing things that rather actually have actually never ever been done before so I think that is more than great enough. But thank you."
In the lead-up to the Games, Gu did interviews with the similarity Vogue and Time magazine, but it was reports in the Swiss media, external that had the possible to more fuel a competitive rivalry at the top of the sport.
It was reported that the coach of Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud left her group to join Gu's on the eve of the Games, just as he had 4 years earlier before Beijing 2022.
At those Games, Gremaud pipped Gu to slopestyle gold, while Gu won the huge air title with Gremaud taking bronze.
This time around, Gremaud again won slopestyle gold, with Gu taking silver, while the Swiss star withdrew from the huge air after a crash, with Gu going on to end up second again.
Before that big air final and as a result of reaching it, Gu had taken to Instagram to highlight a scheduling concern.
It indicated, as the only woman completing in 3 freeski events, she would miss a full day of halfpipe training. After appealing to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) for another opportunity to train, she said she had actually been turned down.
"This decision is disappointing to me because it seems to contradict the spirit of the Games," she stated.
"Daring to be the only female to complete in 3 events need to not be punished. Making finals in one occasion should not downside me in another."
BBC Sport understands Gu had already been handpicked as one of 10 professional athletes - 5 men, 5 women - welcomed to a halfpipe testing training session, while having 3 official training sessions is more than the usual 2 held before World Cups.
In a statement, FIS told BBC Sport: "For athletes who select to compete in several disciplines and/or several events, disputes can sometimes be inevitable."
So severe is Gu taking these Olympics that she has brought 21 pairs of skis with her to Livigno, 7 per event. Asked by BBC Sport how numerous she would normally take to a competitors, she responded two or 3.
She certified 5th for the halfpipe last, which was later held off from Saturday to Sunday due to heavy snowfall, and looked listed below par in her opening run when she crashed on her first technique.
Gu redeemed herself on the 2nd run, however, posting a 94.00 rating that moved her to the top of the podium, and improved it once again to 94.75 on her final effort to defend her title.
Compatriot Li Fanghui took silver, while Great Britain's Zoe Atkin won bronze.
"I am not a betting female, but if I were, I took a quite big bet on myself," stated Gu.
"There was an opportunity that whatever could fail, and I would win absolutely nothing because I'm trying to do excessive. But in my head I was like, 'Even if everything crashes and burns, I tried, and I will never ever be sorry for attempting'.
"It's not being scared to attempt, particularly as young women too, since a great deal of the time we get in our own way and there's this sense of, 'What if people make fun of me? What if I look stupid? What if it's not possible?'.
"It's trusting yourself to try, and if it does not work, that's OK. But who understands? Aim for the stars."
Day-by-day guide to the Winter Olympics
22 February
Full schedule consisting of times of medal events
Winter Olympics 2026 medal table
Winter Olympics 2026
6-22 February
Milan-Cortina
Watch on iPlayerListen on Sounds
Watch two live streams and highlights on BBC iPlayer (UK just), updates on BBC Radio 5 Live and live text commentary and video highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.
Full protection guide
Winter Sports
Winter Olympics