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 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 likewise someone who transcends her sport, a 22-year-old global 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 lady of the Games, she appropriately delivered.
She ended up being freestyle snowboarding's youngest Olympic champion with her big air and halfpipe golds at the age of 18, and the first to win 3 medals at the same Games when she added slopestyle silver.
Later that year, she was called one of Time publication's 100 most prominent individuals in the world.
"I simply like being the very best. I've 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 wanted to be the very best at mathematics when I was in kindergarten, and after that I wished to get into the very best high school, and I wished to have the greatest SAT rating, and after that I wished to get to the finest college, and I desired 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 addicting."
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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 dad and Chinese mom, she attended independent school in San Francisco and is currently taking a sabbatical from her studies at Stanford University, where she majors in global relations and previously studied quantum physics.
She is also proficient in Mandarin, and as a kid would invest summertimes in Beijing.
"Sometimes it feels like I'm bring the weight of two countries on my shoulders," Gu said earlier in the 2026 Games.
In 2019, at the age of just 15, she switched her sporting loyalty from the US to China, wanting to "inspire millions of youths in Beijing - my mother's birthplace" before the 2022 Olympics.
Whatever her reasoning, it was a decision that proved rewarding.
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 tiny amount of her $23.1 m (₤ 17.1 m) earnings in 2015 originated from cash prize 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 walked the runway for Louis Vuitton and Victoria's Secret and is signed by designing agency IMG.
It also emerged in 2025, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, external, that Gu and another professional athlete were set to be paid a combined $6.6 m (₤ 4.9 m) by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau.
In total, the two professional athletes were stated to be paid nearly $14m (₤ 10.4 m) over the past 3 years by the Bureau.
But her decision to complete for China was likewise one that drew much criticism, not just due to the fact that of China and the US' rivalry as the world's 2 biggest economies, but since of China's authoritarian Communist Party rulers and its poor record on human rights - which it rejects.
While the initial furore passed away down, 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 continuous tensions in the US.
In January, extensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, and fellow Minnesota local Renee Good, 37, were both eliminated by ICE representatives in the city, triggering extensive protests.
Asked what it means to represent the USA, Hess stated: "It's a little tough.
"Just because I'm using the flag does not imply I represent everything that's going on in the US."
Trump reacted to Hess' comment by calling him a "real loser", and Gu was one of a number of professional athletes who openly protected Hess and others speaking up.
"As somebody who's been captured in the crossfire in the past, I sympathize with the athletes," she said.
But that enraged her critics, offered Gu chose to speak up versus Trump but has never ever 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 picked to compete versus her own country for the worst human rights abuser in the world - China".
"You don't get to delight in the freedoms of US citizenship while functioning as a worldwide PR asset for the Chinese Communist Party," he wrote on X.
When asked about China's human rights record by Time publication, external, in an interview published in January, she responded to: "I'm not an expert on this.
"I haven't done the research. I do not believe it's my business."
A 'absurd viewpoint' and 'frustrating choices'
Gu has 2.6 m fans on Instagram, has actually 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 in the red colours of China, they line the front of the fan areas, flags embellished 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 examine video footage on her phone. Yan, apparently an effective investor who brought her daughter up single-handledly, is certified at the Games and is the first individual Gu celebrates her successes with.
During Monday's huge air last, Yan was seen seeing alongside previous International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
After competitions, Gu is the one every media outlet wishes to speak with, and she gracefully and nicely requires as she gradually mixes through the blended zone.
But it was from an interview earlier this week that her remarks to a journalist went viral, when she was asked if she felt her two silver medals were in fact two golds lost.
"I'm the most embellished female freeskier in history. I believe that's an answer in and of itself," she replied.
"How do I state this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every single athlete. Doing it 5 times is exponentially harder since every medal is equally hard for me but everyone else's expectations rise, right?
"So the two medals lost scenario, to be quite frank with you, I think is type of a ridiculous point of view to take.
"I'm showcasing my finest snowboarding, I'm doing things that rather literally have never been done before so I think that is more than sufficient. But thank you."
In the lead-up to the Games, Gu did interviews with the similarity Vogue and Time publication, but it was reports in the Swiss media, external that had the possible 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 join 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 big 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 complete second again.
Before that big air final and as an outcome of reaching it, Gu had required to Instagram to highlight a scheduling concern.
It indicated, as the only female contending in 3 freeski events, she would miss out on 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 been rejected.
"This decision is frustrating to me since it seems to oppose the spirit of the Games," she said.
"Daring to be the only lady to compete in three events ought to not be punished. Making finals in one event need to not drawback me in another."
BBC Sport understands Gu had already been handpicked as one of 10 athletes - five guys, 5 ladies - welcomed to a halfpipe testing training session, while having three main training sessions is more than the usual two held before World Cups.
In a statement, FIS told BBC Sport: "For professional athletes who pick to complete in several disciplines and/or numerous occasions, conflicts can in some cases be inevitable."
So severe is Gu taking these Olympics that she has brought 21 pairs of skis with her to Livigno, seven per event. Asked by BBC Sport how numerous she would usually take to a competitors, she replied two or 3.
She qualified 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 very first technique.
Gu redeemed herself on the second run, though, publishing a 94.00 rating that moved her to the top of the podium, and bettered it once 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 female, however if I were, I took a pretty big bet on myself," stated Gu.
"There was a possibility that everything might fail, and I would win absolutely nothing because I'm attempting to do excessive. But in my head I was like, 'Even if whatever crashes and burns, I tried, and I will never ever regret trying'.
"It's not being afraid to attempt, especially as girls too, since a lot 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 foolish? What if it's not possible?'.
"It's trusting yourself to try, and if it does not work, that's OK. But who knows? Strive the stars."
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