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, consisting of 3 golds - the 3rd 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 someone who transcends her sport, a 22-year-old worldwide superstar with a bank balance to make your eyes water.
China fell in love with its 'snow princess' at the Beijing 2022 Olympics where, as the poster woman of the Games, she duly provided.
She became freestyle snowboarding's youngest Olympic champion with her huge air and halfpipe golds at the age of 18, and the very first to win three medals at the very same Games when she included slopestyle silver.
Later that year, she was called one of Time publication's 100 most influential people on the planet.
"I similar to being the finest. 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 was in kindergarten, and then I wished to enter the finest high school, and I wished to have the greatest SAT score, and then I wished to get to the very best college, and I wanted to be the best skier I might be.
"Then I wanted to do every event, and after that I desired to win them all. When you get a taste of it, it's kind 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 dad and Chinese mom, she participated in personal school in San Francisco and is currently taking a sabbatical from her research studies at Stanford University, where she majors in international relations and previously studied quantum physics.
She is likewise fluent in Mandarin, and as a kid would spend summertimes in Beijing.
"Sometimes it seems like I'm carrying the weight of 2 nations on my shoulders," Gu said earlier in the 2026 Games.
In 2019, at the age of simply 15, she switched her sporting loyalty from the US to China, desiring to "motivate countless youths in Beijing - my mom's birthplace" before the 2022 Olympics.
Whatever her reasoning, it was a decision that proved profitable.
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, just a small quantity of her $23.1 m (₤ 17.1 m) earnings in 2015 originated from prize cash from her sport - around $100,000 (₤ 74,000).
Instead, it comes through recommendations 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 modelling agency IMG.
It also 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 total, the 2 professional athletes were said to be paid almost $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 because of China and the US' rivalry as the world's 2 most significant economies, but due to the fact that of China's authoritarian Communist Party rulers and its poor 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 tensions in the US.
In January, extensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, and fellow Minnesota homeowner Renee Good, 37, were both eliminated by ICE representatives in the city, triggering prevalent demonstrations.
Asked what it means to represent the USA, Hess said: "It's a little hard.
"Just since I'm wearing the flag does not suggest I represent whatever that's going on in the US."
President Donald Trump reacted to Hess' comment by calling him a "genuine loser", and Gu was one of a number of athletes who openly protected Hess and others speaking up.
"As somebody who's been caught in the crossfire previously, I sympathize with the professional athletes," she stated.
But that enraged her critics, offered Gu chose to speak up versus Trump however 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 chose to compete versus her own country for the worst human rights abuser on the planet - China".
"You do not get to delight in the flexibilities of US citizenship while serving as a global PR possession for the Chinese Communist Party," he on X.
When inquired about China's human rights record by Time magazine, external, in an interview released in January, she responded to: "I'm not an expert on this.
"I haven't done the research. I do not think it's my company."
A 'absurd perspective' and 'frustrating 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 athlete has more fans in attendance.
Clad at a loss colours of China, they line the front of the fan areas, flags embellished with images of Gu's face pegged to the fences, and commemorate 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 a successful investor who brought her child up single-handledly, is recognized at the Games and is the first individual Gu celebrates her successes with.
During Monday's huge air final, Yan was seen viewing alongside previous International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
After competitions, Gu is the one every media outlet desires to talk to, and she with dignity and pleasantly obliges as she gradually mixes through the blended zone.
But it was from a press conference previously this week that her remarks to a reporter went viral, when she was asked if she felt her two silver medals were actually two golds lost.
"I'm the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that's a response in and of itself," she replied.
"How do I state this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-altering experience for each professional athlete. Doing it five times is exponentially harder due to the fact that every medal is equally hard for me however everybody else's expectations rise, right?
"So the two medals lost scenario, to be quite frank with you, I think is sort of an outrageous perspective to take.
"I'm showcasing my finest snowboarding, I'm doing things that rather actually have actually never ever been done before so I think that is more than excellent enough. But thank you."
In the lead-up to the Games, Gu did interviews with the similarity Vogue and Time magazine, but it was reports in the Swiss media, external that had the potential to more fuel a competitive competition 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, simply 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 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 second again.
Before that huge air final and as an outcome of reaching it, Gu had taken to Instagram to highlight a scheduling concern.
It implied, as the only female contending in three freeski occasions, she would miss 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 because it seems to contradict the spirit of the Games," she stated.
"Daring to be the only woman to contend in 3 occasions need to not be penalised. Making finals in one event need to not drawback me in another."
BBC Sport comprehends Gu had already been handpicked as one of 10 athletes - five males, five women - invited to a halfpipe testing training session, while having 3 official training sessions is more than the typical 2 held before World Cups.
In a statement, FIS told BBC Sport: "For professional athletes who choose to compete in multiple disciplines and/or several events, disputes can often be inescapable."
So major is Gu taking these Olympics that she has brought 21 pairs of skis with her to Livigno, 7 per event. Asked by BBC Sport how numerous she would usually take to a competitors, she responded two or 3.
She qualified 5th for the halfpipe last, which was later on postponed 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, publishing a 94.00 rating that moved her to the top of the podium, and improved it once again to 94.75 on her last 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," said Gu.
"There was a possibility that everything could fail, and I would stroll away with nothing because I'm trying to do excessive. But in my head I resembled, 'Even if everything crashes and burns, I attempted, and I will never ever regret attempting'.
"It's not hesitating to attempt, especially as girls too, because a great deal of the time we get in our own way and there's this sense of, 'What if individuals make fun of me? What if I look dumb? What if it's not possible?'.
"It's trusting yourself to attempt, and if it does not work, that's OK. But who understands? Shoot for the stars."
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