Eileen Gu Doesn’t Appreciate Your Silver Medal Cynicism

Like other highly-publicized athletes at these Milano Cortina Olympic Games, freeskier Eileen Gu, who represents China, had hopes of winning everything. Many fans expect her, and these other global superstars, to do so. And like Lindsey Vonn, Chloe Kim, Ilia Malinin, and Mikaela Shiffrin, Gu hasn’t. 

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

On Monday night in Livigno, Gu landed a left-side double cork 1260—three-and-a-half rotations and a couple of off-axis flips—under pressure in her third and final run of the big air competition, earning enough points to win her second silver medal of these Olympics. But she didn’t defend her big air title from Beijing; Canada’s Megan Oldham won the gold. At just 22 and with five Olympic medals to her name, however, Gu now owns more Olympic medals than any other female freestyle skier ever. 

But she still hasn’t finished first in Italy. After big air, a reporter asked Gu if she views her performance at these Olympics as two silver medals gained, or two golds lost. In interactions with journalists, Gu is unfailingly polite but often returns to familiar talking points. She chose to represent China over the U.S., where she was born and raised, in order to inspire young girls there to try skiing. (There’s evidence her goal is being realized). She touts the unifying power of sport. 

All well and good. But here, Gu came back with bite. 

“I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history,” Gu responded. “I think that’s an answer in and of itself. How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life changing experience for every athlete. Doing it five times is exponentially harder, because every medal is equally hard for me, but everybody else’s expectations rise, right? And so the two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think it’s kind of a ridiculous perspective to take.” 

Gu’s a lighting rod on social media. While her suiting up for China hasn’t stirred as much chatter as it did four years ago, when the Olympics were in Beijing, critics are still calling her out: former NBA player Enes Kantor Freedom, for example, recently called her a “traitor” on X. 

On the flip side, her fans come out in full force. At the big air landing, groups of fans wave Gu signs and Chinese flags. A trio of her Stanford friends showed up to cheer her on; Gu is an international relations major at the school, and plans on returning, as a junior, after the Games. One student didn’t want to be named, since he was blowing off an electrical engineering final to be in the Alps. 

She has a strong support system. A world swirls around her. Supporters sought out selfies after she won her silver, and a volunteer even asked her mom, Yan, who was wearing a panda hat, for a picture with him. (Yan was born in China and grew up there before coming to the United States: Gu spent summers in Beijing as a child). So whether people agree with Gu—two silvers here are a laudable accomplishment—or view her as crafting a favorable narrative that moves the goalposts—she had visions of bettering her performance in Beijing, and sweeping all three freestyle golds—they’ll be talking nonetheless.   

She was so stoked about landing that last big air trick, she says, because she only learned it last week. She raised her arms after striking the landing, and shouted “What the heck!” at one of her coaches, as if she couldn’t believe what just happened. She thought seriously about skipping big air altogether at the Olympics. Gu won her slopestyle silver on Feb. 9, and her strongest event, halfpipe, starts with qualifying on Feb. 19. “My mom called a team meeting the day after slopestyle, and she was like, ‘All right, we got the medal. Let’s move on to halfpipe.’ And I was like, ‘Whaaat?’  I thought my jumps were pretty good. Maybe we could do something nice in big air.” 

Yan was concerned that the big air finals were held on the same night as a halfpipe training: Gu even planned to hop over to halfpipe for some reps if she didn’t medal in big air. And Gu hasn’t competed in big air since the Beijing Olympics. Between school and sponsor commitments and other competitions, and tending to her thriving modeling career, Gu just hasn’t had time for big air. But after she did a practice run on the big air ramp in Livigno, she was all in. “She said, ‘I love it,’” says Yan.  “‘We’re in the Olympics.’” The opportunity to fly was just too good to pass up.

And Gu still has one more shot at that elusive—in Italy—gold. Oldham said she was going to celebrate her gold by going dancing. Gu would not be doing the same for her silver, as happy as she was with that prize. “Go have a night,” she told Oldham. “I’m going to be visualizing my halfpipe run. I’m going to lie in bed and think about my tricks.”