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 six medals, including 3 golds - the third of which she won in Sunday's halfpipe - she is the most embellished freestyle skier in the history of the Games.


But she is also somebody who transcends her sport, a 22-year-old global super star with a bank balance to make your eyes water.


in love with its 'snow princess' at the Beijing 2022 Olympics where, as the poster woman of the Games, she properly provided.


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 3 medals at the same Games when she included slopestyle silver.


Later that year, she was named one of Time publication's 100 most prominent individuals on the planet.


"I simply like being the very best. I have actually constantly wanted to do that," stated Gu at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, where she earlier won silver medals in the big air and slopestyle.


"I wished to be the best at math when I remained in kindergarten, and then I wanted to enter into the best high school, and I desired to have the highest SAT rating, and after that I wished to get to the very best college, and I wished to be the very best skier I might 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."


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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 father and Chinese mom, she went to independent school in San Francisco and is currently taking a sabbatical from her studies at Stanford University, where she majors in international relations and previously studied quantum physics.


She is likewise proficient in Mandarin, and as a kid would invest summertimes in Beijing.


"Sometimes it feels like I'm bring the weight of 2 nations on my shoulders," Gu said previously in the 2026 Games.


In 2019, at the age of simply 15, she changed her sporting loyalty from the US to China, wanting to "inspire countless young people in Beijing - my mother's birth place" before the 2022 Olympics.


Whatever her reasoning, it was a choice that proved lucrative.


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


But unlike those 3, only a small quantity of her $23.1 m (₤ 17.1 m) income last year came 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 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 three years by the Bureau.


But her choice to complete for China was also one that drew much criticism, not even if of China and the US' competition as the world's two biggest economies, but since of China's authoritarian Communist Party rulers and its poor record on human rights - which it rejects.


While the preliminary furore died down, it has 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 continuous tensions in the US.


In January, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, and fellow Minnesota local Renee Good, 37, were both eliminated by ICE agents in the city, stimulating prevalent protests.


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


"Even if I'm using the flag doesn't mean 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 one of numerous athletes who openly safeguarded Hess and others speaking out.


"As someone who's been captured in the crossfire in the past, I feel sorry for the athletes," she stated.


But that enraged her critics, provided Gu selected to speak up against Trump but has actually never ever criticised China.


Former NBA gamer Enes Kanter Freedom called her a "traitor", adding she "was born in America, raised in America, lives in America and selected to compete versus her own country for the worst human rights abuser on earth - China".


"You do not get to delight in the flexibilities of US citizenship while acting as a global PR property for the Chinese Communist Party," he composed on X.


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


"I haven't done the research. I don't believe it's my organization."


A 'outrageous point of view' and 'frustrating decisions'


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 athlete has more fans in attendance.


Clad at a loss colours of China, they line the front of the fan areas, flags decorated 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 seeks out her mom, Yan, to review video footage on her phone. Yan, reportedly an effective investor who brought her daughter up single-handledly, is recognized at the Games and is the very first individual Gu celebrates her successes with.


During Monday's big air last, Yan was seen watching along with previous International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.


After competitors, Gu is the one every media outlet desires to talk to, and she with dignity and politely obliges as she slowly 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 in fact two golds lost.


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


"How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-altering experience for each athlete. Doing it five times is significantly harder because every medal is equally tough for me however everybody else's expectations rise, ideal?


"So the two medals lost situation, to be rather frank with you, I think is kind of a ludicrous perspective to take.


"I'm showcasing my best snowboarding, I'm doing things that quite actually have actually never 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 likes of Vogue and Time magazine, but it was reports in the Swiss media, external that had the prospective to further fuel a competitive competition at the top of the sport.


It was reported that the coach of Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud left her group to sign up with 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 big air title with Gremaud taking bronze.


This time around, Gremaud once 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 once again.


Before that big air last and as an outcome of reaching it, Gu had actually required to Instagram to highlight a scheduling problem.


It implied, as the only female completing in 3 freeski occasions, she would miss out on a full day of halfpipe training. After attracting the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) for another chance to train, she stated she had actually been turned down.


"This decision is frustrating to me due to the fact that it appears to contradict the spirit of the Games," she stated.


"Daring to be the only woman to compete in 3 occasions must not be penalised. Making finals in one occasion ought to not disadvantage me in another."


BBC Sport understands Gu had actually already been handpicked as one of 10 athletes - five men, five females - welcomed to a halfpipe testing training session, while having 3 main training sessions is more than the usual two held before World Cups.


In a declaration, FIS told BBC Sport: "For athletes who pick to compete in multiple disciplines and/or multiple events, disputes can in some cases be inevitable."


So serious is Gu taking these Olympics that she has actually brought 21 sets of skis with her to Livigno, 7 per event. Asked by BBC Sport the number of she would typically take to a competition, she responded two or 3.


She certified 5th for the halfpipe final, which was later on held off from Saturday to Sunday due to heavy snowfall, and looked below par in her opening run when she crashed on her very first trick.


Gu redeemed herself on the 2nd run, though, posting a 94.00 score that moved her to the top of the podium, and bettered it again to 94.75 on her final effort to protect her title.


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


"I am not a gaming lady, but if I were, I took a quite huge bet on myself," said Gu.


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


"It's not hesitating to attempt, particularly as girls too, due to the fact that a lot of the time we get in our own method and there's this sense of, 'What if people make fun of me? What if I look foolish? What if it's not possible?'.


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


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