Eileen Gu comments on Alysa Liu’s historic Olympic gold medal win
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American-born Team China skier Eileen Gu commented on Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu’s historic gold medal win in the women’s free skating final at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday.
After Liu became the first American female figure skater to win an individual Olympic medal in 20 years and the first gold medal in 24 years, she made a congratulatory post on Instagram.
“These are for all of you,” Liu wrote in the caption of the photo of herself and the U.S. team’s gold medal.
ALYSA LIU VS EILEEN GU — HOW TWO CHINESE AMERICAN STARS BECAME ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF AN OLYMPIC PROXY WAR
Gold medalist Alysa Liu of the United States poses for a photo during the women’s single skating medal ceremony at the Milan Ice Skating Arena during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy, on February 19, 2026. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Gu commented on the post, congratulating Liu on his victory.
“YES,” Gu wrote in the comment section.
The two Chinese American stars have been compared and contrasted endlessly on social media these Olympics.
Both athletes are children of immigrants who came to the United States from China. But many fans and critics were quick to point out the contrast between Liu’s story of an immigrant’s child’s American loyalty and Gu, who chose to compete for Team China at the age of 15 despite living in California.
Arthur Liu raised Alysa and her siblings in Oakland. Yan Gu raised Eileen just across the bay from San Francisco.
They parted ways in 2019.
The Chinese government has launched a program to recruit foreign athletes, especially of Chinese origin, to increase competitiveness, especially for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and football. China Project.
Gu and Liu were top targets in the recruitment.
Gu traded his red, white, and blue for red and gold. Just a few months after competing in her first Freestyle Ski World Cup for the United States in January 2019, she competed for China for the first time in June of that year after requesting a change of country from the International Ski Federation.
Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China attends the awards ceremony of the women’s freeskiing big air event in freestyle skiing at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, on February 16, 2026. (Hongxiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Lius remained loyal to Team USA.
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Arthur was reportedly “not open to persuasion” about Alysa competing for China. Economist.
Both athletes competed at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics; Gu represented China and Liu represented the United States.
Gu won two gold medals and a silver medal in freeskiing and traveled to California as a new global name for her success.
Liu finished sixth in women’s singles figure skating, then temporarily retired early before returning to the sport in 2024.
But in 2026, Liu became the only gold holder after helping the United States win the team gold and historic individual gold on Thursday. Maybe if Gu had represented the United States, he would have won the gold medal.
Liu did all her jumps and smiled in the individual final, then did a showy celebration after finishing.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” he shouted. and “Holy s—!” while celebrating with his team. She completed the competition with 226.79 total points, 150.20 free skate points and 76.59 short program points. This was her best free skate score of the season.
OLYMPIANS SPEAK TO DEFEND EILEEN GU AMONG CRITICISM FOR CHINA COMPETING OVER US
However, Gu has won only two silver medals in Italy so far.
An interaction with a reporter on Tuesday went viral after Gu responded to a question about winning two silver medals instead of gold so far in these Olympics, suggesting the question came from a “ridiculous perspective.”
When asked whether she viewed her two medals as “silvers won” or “golds lost”, Gu said: “I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history. I guess that’s an answer in itself.” he said.
“How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for any athlete. Doing it five times makes it exponentially harder because each medal is just as hard for me, but everyone’s expectations increase, right?”
“The situation of losing two medals, to be honest with you, I think that’s a bit of a ridiculous perspective. I’m skiing at my best. I’m literally doing things that have never been done before. So I think that’s more than good, but thank you.”
Gu will have one last chance to win gold on Sunday in the women’s halfpipe final, considered her strongest event. The event will take place a day later than originally planned due to heavy snowfall in the region.
Gu nearly lost his shot at the gold medal after falling in the halfpipe qualifiers on Thursday. However, he recovered in his second run and advanced to the final.
Gu had to compete under the pressure of intense global scrutiny in response to his decision to compete for China seven years ago.
Gu was asked after his contest on Thursday if he felt “a bit of a punching bag for a certain branch of American politics.”
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Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China poses for photos after the awards ceremony for the women’s freestyle skiing big air event in freestyle skiing at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, on February 16, 2026. (Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images)
“I do,” he said, according to USA Today. “A lot of athletes compete for a different country. … People have a problem with me doing that because they’re making China this monolithic entity and just I hate china. So it’s not really about what they think it’s about.
“And also because I won. If I wasn’t doing well, they probably wouldn’t care so much, and that’s fine with me. People are entitled to their own opinions.”
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