Eileen Gu - The 'snow Princess' Who Divides Opinion

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ByKatie Falkingham
BBC Sport Senior Journalist in Livigno


Updated 22 February 2026


Wherever Eileen Gu goes, her fans will follow. Headlines will too.


With six 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 also someone who transcends her sport, a 22-year-old worldwide super star with a bank balance 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 duly delivered.


She ended up being freestyle snowboarding's youngest Olympic champ with her huge air and halfpipe golds at the age of 18, and the first to win 3 medals at the exact same Games when she included slopestyle silver.


Later that year, she was named one of Time publication's 100 most influential people in the world.


"I simply like being the finest. I have actually constantly desired to do that," said Gu at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, where she earlier won silver medals in the huge air and slopestyle.


"I wished to be the very best at math when I was in kindergarten, and after that I desired to enter the very best high school, and I wished to have the greatest SAT score, and after that I wished to get to the best college, and I desired to be the finest skier I might be.


"Then I wanted to do every event, and after that I wanted to win them all. When you get a taste of it, it's sort of addictive."


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On and off skis, Gu is a high achiever in every part of her world.


California-born and raised by an American daddy 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 global relations and formerly studied quantum physics.


She is also proficient in Mandarin, and as a child would invest summers in Beijing.


"Sometimes it feels like I'm bring the weight of two countries on my shoulders," Gu stated earlier in the 2026 Games.


In 2019, at the age of just 15, she switched her sporting obligation from the US to China, wishing to "influence countless youths in Beijing - my mother's birthplace" before the 2022 Olympics.


Whatever her reasoning, it was a decision that showed financially rewarding.


In December, Forbes ranked Gu as the fourth-highest paid female professional athlete for 2025, behind only tennis gamers Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.


But unlike those 3, just a small quantity of her $23.1 m (₤ 17.1 m) earnings last year originated from prize cash from her sport - around $100,000 (₤ 74,000).


Instead, it comes through endorsements with brands 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 company IMG.


It likewise 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 athletes were said to be paid nearly $14m (₤ 10.4 m) over the past 3 years by the Bureau.


But her decision to contend for China was also one that drew much criticism, not simply due to the fact that of China and the US' competition as the world's two most significant economies, however since of China's authoritarian Communist Party rulers and its bad record on human rights - which it rejects.


While the initial furore waned, it has actually raised its head once 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 eliminated by ICE representatives in the city, triggering prevalent protests.


Asked what it indicates to represent the USA, Hess said: "It's a little hard.


"Just due to the fact that I'm wearing the flag does not imply I represent everything that's going on in the US."


President Donald Trump reacted to Hess' remark by calling him a "genuine loser", and Gu was among several professional athletes who publicly defended Hess and others speaking up.


"As somebody who's been captured in the crossfire in the past, I sympathize with the professional athletes," she stated.


But that enraged her critics, given Gu chose to speak out versus Trump however has actually never criticised China.


Former NBA gamer Enes called her a "traitor", including she "was born in America, raised in America, lives in America and selected to contend versus her own country for the worst human rights abuser in the world - China".


"You do not get to take pleasure in the freedoms of US citizenship while acting as a global PR asset for the Chinese Communist Party," he composed on X.


When inquired about China's human rights record by Time publication, external, in an interview released in January, she responded to: "I'm not a professional on this.


"I haven't done the research study. I do not think it's my company."


A 'ludicrous perspective' and 'disappointing choices'


Gu has 2.6 m fans on Instagram, has actually amassed 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 locations, flags adorned with pictures of Gu's face pegged to the fences, and celebrate her every run like it has actually clinched Olympic gold.


After every run, the ever-driven and disciplined Gu looks for her mother, Yan, to review video footage on her phone. Yan, reportedly a successful venture capitalist who brought her child up single-handledly, is recognized at the Games and is the first person Gu commemorates her successes with.


During Monday's big air final, Yan was seen seeing together with previous International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.


After competitors, Gu is the one every media outlet wishes to speak with, and she with dignity and pleasantly obliges as she gradually shuffles through the mixed zone.


But it was from a press conference earlier this week that her remarks to a journalist went viral, when she was asked if she felt her 2 silver medals were really two golds lost.


"I'm the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that's an answer in and of itself," she responded.


"How do I state this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for each athlete. Doing it 5 times is significantly harder because every medal is equally difficult for me however everybody else's expectations rise, best?


"So the 2 medals lost scenario, to be rather frank with you, I believe is type of a ridiculous viewpoint to take.


"I'm showcasing my best skiing, I'm doing things that rather literally have actually never ever been done before so I believe that is more than sufficient. But thank you."


In the lead-up to the Games, Gu did interviews with the similarity Vogue and Time magazine, however it was reports in the Swiss media, external that had the possible to additional fuel a competitive rivalry at the top of the sport.


It was reported that the coach of Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud left her team to sign up with Gu's on the eve of the Games, just as he had four 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 big air after a crash, with Gu going on to end up 2nd once again.


Before that huge air final and as a result of reaching it, Gu had actually taken to Instagram to highlight a scheduling problem.


It meant, as the only lady completing in three freeski occasions, she would miss out on a complete day of halfpipe training. After appealing to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) for another chance to train, she stated she had actually been turned down.


"This choice is frustrating to me because it seems to oppose the spirit of the Games," she stated.


"Daring to be the only lady to contend in 3 occasions should not be penalised. Making finals in one event need to not downside me in another."


BBC Sport understands Gu had currently been handpicked as one of 10 professional athletes - five males, 5 ladies - invited to a halfpipe testing training session, while having three main training sessions is more than the usual two held before World Cups.


In a declaration, FIS informed BBC Sport: "For athletes who pick to contend in several disciplines and/or several occasions, conflicts can often be unavoidable."


So major is Gu taking these Olympics that she has brought 21 sets of skis with her to Livigno, 7 per occasion. Asked by BBC Sport how numerous she would normally take to a competition, she responded 2 or 3.


She qualified fifth for the halfpipe last, which was later on delayed 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 second run, though, posting a 94.00 rating that moved her to the top of the podium, and bettered it once again to 94.75 on her last effort to defend her title.


Compatriot Li Fanghui took silver, while Great Britain's Zoe Atkin won bronze.


"I am not a betting lady, however if I were, I took a pretty big bet on myself," stated Gu.


"There was an opportunity that everything could go incorrect, and I would win absolutely nothing due to the fact that I'm attempting to do too much. But in my head I resembled, 'Even if everything crashes and burns, I tried, and I will never be sorry for trying'.


"It's not being scared to attempt, especially as young women too, due to the fact that a great deal of the time we get in our own method and there's this sense of, 'What if individuals laugh at me? What if I look dumb? What if it's not possible?'.


"It's trusting yourself to attempt, and if it doesn't work, that's OK. But who knows? Shoot for the stars."


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