22-year-old Olympic skier Eileen Gu was born and raised in the United States. She learned to ski here. She goes to school at Stanford. Her father went to Harvard. Her first international competitions as a teenager were for the United States. So why is she competing for Communist China in this year’s games in Milan – and why is the global media so eager to lionize her betrayal of the country that gave her everything?
Gu’s answer is her mother – a first-generation immigrant from China who moved to the United States and became a successful businesswoman. She says that skiing for China is her way of honoring her mother’s heritage.
Of course, the real answer is a bit less innocent than that. As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, Gu, who first opted to ski for China ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, was the fourth-highest paid female athlete in the world last year – thanks in large part to generous contributions from the Chinese Communist Party. In addition to lucrative endorsements from brands eager for exposure in the Chinese market, leaked documents showed that Beijing’s sports bureau was set to pay Gu and figure skater Beverly Zhu, another U.S.-born Olympic athlete, some $6.6 million in 2025 and $14 million over the past three years.
But Gu doesn’t appear to see any problem with that arrangement – or with supposed dual loyalty to the United States and its largest geopolitical rival. As she put it in 2020, “When I’m in the U.S., I’m American. But when I’m in China, I’m Chinese.” (Notably, Gu was required to become a Chinese citizen to compete for China. China does not allow dual citizenship, but Gu has failed to say whether she renounced her U.S. citizenship.)
Adding to the controversy, Gu has offered plenty of criticism of the United States – the country that gave her the opportunity to achieve her Olympic dreams – and President Donald Trump. But she has been entirely mum on China’s egregious human rights abuses. When asked about Beijing’s genocide of Uyghurs, she responded, “I don’t think it’s my business.”
Former NBA player Enes Kanter put it best in a statement lambasting Gu:
“Eileen Gu is a traitor. She was born in America, raised in America, lives in America, and chose to compete against her own country for the worst human rights abuser on the planet, China. She built her fame in a free country, then chose to represent an authoritarian regime while cashing in on endorsements linked by watchdog groups to mass detention and forced labor camps. When human rights come up, she disappears. That’s not neutrality. That’s a choice. She chose to play for a country responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of its own people and that is running concentration camps right now, instead of the country where she was born and given opportunity.”
Four years ago, one could have forgiven Gu for spurning the United States. At just 15, she hardly could have been expected to understand the significance of her decision, which was undoubtedly more her mother’s than her own. This time, however, it’s different.
But perhaps even more disgraceful than Gu’s betrayal is the media’s fawning treatment of her, and the fact that her disloyalty has only been a story in conservative media. Imagine the national outrage if a prominent American-born athlete chose to compete for the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.
Yet now Gu has been featured on the cover of Time Magazine and enjoyed glowing coverage from the likes of Forbes, NBC, and The New York Times – all while she poses draped in the flag of America’s principal adversary.
Here’s how conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller put it in a viral post on X:
“Everything you need to know about our media is summed up in these Olympics. Journalists grill American athletes about a ‘rising fascism’ in the United States. Meanwhile an American who takes millions of dollars to ski for an actual authoritarian communist dictatorship with concentration camps and zero free speech is treated like a beautified celebrity. This is who our media is.”
All that criticism is fair and justified. But the constructive question we also should be asking ourselves is how we even got to this point. Gu isn’t the only American-born athlete competing for China, and she certainly isn’t the only athlete who can’t find anything positive to say about her homeland. Halfpipe skier Hunter Hess infamously stated he had “mixed emotions” when asked about how he felt competing for the United States, prompting a barb from President Trump.
Ultimately, Eileen Gu is a reflection of the culture that she was raised in – a culture that failed to instill enough patriotism in her to turn down communist dollars.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped teaching young Americans like Eileen Gu that citizenship is more than a passport or a platform for personal advancement. We stopped teaching that the American flag is not a brand to monetize, but a symbol of the freest, most successful constitutional republic in human history. Representing the United States on the world stage should be one of the highest civic honors imaginable – not a business decision weighed against endorsement contracts.
That failure begins in our classrooms. For years, civic education has emphasized America’s flaws while downplaying its achievements. Students learn to critique their history more than to understand it and to see the Constitution as suspect rather than exceptional.
In that environment, patriotism withers and dies on the vine, resulting in the embarrassing spectacle of an American athlete defecting to a communist regime.
The moral contrast between the United States and China should not be difficult to grasp. The United States is the nation that allowed Gu’s mother to immigrate, succeed, and raise a daughter who could attend Stanford and become an Olympic champion. Communist China is a regime that censors speech, persecutes minorities, and crushes dissent.
Gu made her choice. The more important matter is whether we will recommit to teaching the next generation why wearing “USA” across your chest is worth more than money could ever buy.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
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If she had to renounce her US citizenship to get Chinese citizenship I think the US government should be looking to deny her ability to live in the US or to go to Stanford.
I doubt that our country honors duel citizenship with the Peoples Republic of China. If that is the case, I would suggest her US citizenship should be revoked.
Only in this great, blessed nation do these fools have the right to be just as stupid as can be with no repercussions.
Pull her passport and let her live in China.
Reap all the benefits, show no allegiance nor loyalty; sounds about right for the left!!!
If she was required to be a Chinese citizen to compete, and China does not allow dual-citizenship, she likely renounced, is no longer an American citizen and should not be allowed back into the US. Consequences are real! ????????
Words are cheap. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of both these athletes, the media and the failure of our education systems tell us who these people are regardless of their excuses proclaimed in their decisions
American athletes participating in the Olympics for other nations is not that uncommon. Usually it occurs with athletes who could not make the US Olympic team. As I remember in the last summer Olympics, we had Americans wrestling for San Marino. Puerto Rico, Israel and Mexico. A New Jersey wrestler won a bronze medal for Puerto Rico. That being said, that is not the case with Gu, as she could have easily made the US team. What I do object to though, more than her representing China, is her being critical of the US. She represents a vile repressive regime with nothing but contempt for the most basic of human rights. She has forfeited the right to be critical of the US.
This and other issues is why my wife and I have not watched a monoid these Olympics.
I feel betrayed by a young woman who chose and enemy country. For her mother? And, her mother made it big here also? She cannot be allowed to come back. She is chinese bought and paid for and should stay in that country.
I doubt that our country honors duel citizenship with the Peoples Republic of China. If that is the case, I would suggest her US citizenship should be revoked.
Get rid of the National Education Association & everything connected to it. Make our history be taught the way it was fought for.
Perfect example of why the US should ban dual citizenship. If Republican voters buck the usual trend of staying home with heads buried in sand come November midterms, perhaps Trump and the Congress can actually get some common sense things done for the next 2 years. VOTE like your country depends on it, because it DOES!!!
Since china made her give up her citizenship as am American, why can’t we just deport her. She has no citizenship claim anylonger.
The “news” page on Yahoo this morning is touting how Gu charmed the media! It is disgusting, but many people will do anything for money. It seems that the saying that money is the root of all evil is true. Also learned this morning that Senators Kelly was seen with George Soros and the recent meeting in Munich and Gallego declared that the Venezuelan strike was “bad precedent” and “escapism from the rules”! Our once Republican state of AZ is going blue and it is sickening. These guys are a joke and show their ignorance of our Constitution every time they open their mouths!! They need to be treated as traitors for trying to overthrow our government.
As far as I’m concerned , she should move to China and stay there – we don’t want her, we don’t need her, and she doesn’t belong here
This is a disgrace, you know that they have ties to the ccp, parents need to be investigated. Her citizenship should be terminated because I bet her parents are naturalized us citizens and they probably claim allegiance to china, just stealing our education
Well as far as I’m concerned if she renounced her citizenship to the USA she should be deported to China the country she obviously loves.
Then take her passport and void her citizenship, she can live and study in China she has rejected her U.S, citizenship status and our way of life by allying herself to a country that is conducting an undeclared, unrestricted war against us, I don’t care where she was born!
International Olympic Committee is a disgrace. Issues like this and the trans ice skater cause me to have less interest in the games.
This person is only one many that”USE”AMERICA and the left wants to keep importing more.But for a born here person that performs for an enemy of AMERICA,and china is not our friend,that person should relocate to the country that it supports.As for illegals,most of them are here for the”FREE STUFF”,don’t kid yourself.The democrats see them as future liberals that will vote for them.We often wonder,and we are in our middle eighties,where in the hell did PATRIOTISM go,the love of a sovereign AMERICA,I fear that our country is”burnt toast”.
She should lose her citizenship. This should not even be debated, and both of her parents should be looked into for possible spying and/or sedition. This should also be automatically done, and both her parents should be scrutinized for possible loss of citizenship. If they are so loyal to China, they cannot be loyal to the US, and they are not Americans, then.
Sold her body to the highest bidder.
Ms. Gu is a small cog in the larger wheel of WEF globalism.
What’s more concerning to me is the 100,000 Chinese elites who have had children in the country and returned to China. This immigration problem is what Peter Schweizer writes about in his new book: The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon. If this is not a National Security Threat, then nothing is. And these elites are on both sides of the aisle. Ask yourself, why would Senator John Thune not bring the Safe Act Bill to the Senate floor to be voted on?
The republican party does not need an opposition party, we handle that quite nicely by ourselves.
The US does not recognize dual citizenship and China does not recognize dual citizenship, so therefore, she has made her choice to become a citizen of China and the
cost of that decision….she is legally no longer a citizen of the US and now needs to have a Visa from the U.S. to be here.
Her mother was a citizen of the U.S. and so was her father and she was born in the US so being that the case….she has renounced her citizenship to the USA.
Live with that decision and may she enjoy living in China!
Gu has Chinese mother, that makes her Chinese, this is the aim of the game of all those coming here to give birth and returning with the kid to God knows where only to return 18 years later to claim the place at the university. Old game.
From red China’s perspective, renouncing her US citizenship is probably irrelevant. (I never have advocated dual citizenship ship for any country) Hope she knows all Chinese citizens are subject to and can be conscripted into military service at any time by the Chinese government. She is a disgrace and won’t comment on the Uyghurs because she will loose her commie handlers money. Good article.
America as we know it now steeped in globalism! I agree totally with the article above. This fraternizing with the enemy started many years ago when the USA started buying Chinese made products! Now practically every thing we so called “own” is made in China. The Bible of course speaks about this. President Trump is trying hard to change all of this mess, however, it seems as though in the end globalization of the planet will win as God is canceled out. But I have Good News, God The Lord wins! Whose side are you on?
Yank her US citizenship & DEPORT her to CHINA.
Vermont here,
Bill…
So she is a trader to our country and should be treated the way CCP would treat a trader!
Mom should go back to China and her daughter should go with her. If China is so great-leave the US.
If China does not allow dual citizenship, the the U.S. govt has every right to declare that she has renounced her U.S. citizenship & must apply for a visa & work permit to re-enter the U.S.
Excellent and well balanced article.
It is truly sad that families, since the end of the war, felt they needed 2 family incomes in order to keep up with the popular image our advertising agencies wooed us with.
The role of homemaker, training up our children, and supporting their working husbands became a symbol of a second class citizen. Wives were looked upon as under educated and boring.
this label hit hard with many mothers.
suddenly (one by one) more and more women entered the workforce.
Advertisers and financial institutions took advantage by claiming we must have the latest and greatest products on the market while offering monthly payment plans for our convenience (buy now, pay later).
Today we all know how that worked out. Especially when the repayment interest kept increasing steadily. Ever notice how interest rates never go back down… unless you opt for short-term lower rates and higher payments to pay it off earlier.
But then discover you couldn’t keep up with those higher payments (due to personal setbacks) and end up worse off than when you started.
These interest rates remind me of Loan Sharks of old who were considered criminals.
Only over the time period of a legalized current loan, we end up paying back Financial institutions more than what loan sharks charged and now call legal.
Back to today’s families….
With both parents working the parents are not home when their children return home from school. The teachers tell our children that they’re that awful thing called Latch Key Children. Which apparently was the school’s first step toward teachers turning the parents into loveless and selfish people…. unlike our childhood teachers who validated our parents right to punish us for wrong behavior and attitudes.
The Liberals plan for removing God as our valid and only Creator of people and all of creation was planned out long before they started implementing them.
The destruction of family and our God who has always provided every good thing to guard and prosper us has been meticulously usurped by Liberal factions.
We did not fight to keep God in our schools and just watched silently while we were slowly lulled into acceptance of immorality, injustices, lies, pornography, infanticide, and evolution.
Thank God we are fighting back now… but we can never have let it get this far again.
We must do everything in our power to stop the spread of unholy Liberal propaganda and pursuits.
Silence is not an option for any of us.
text, call, or write to the president, congressmen, senators, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Let us be a strong voice for Christian values with moral standards in truth, integrity, and humility.
The statement about our education system is spot on. Our education system began to change in the 1960s during and due to the “Summer of Love” activism for cultural change. Those students became teachers and professors, and now we’re a couple more generations further into what they were advocating to their vulnerable students.
But parents discovered some of what was being taught in schools during Covid and was shocked to the point that many now home school. What does that tell us about the changes in our school system through college level?
As a Chinese citizen, I would think we could turn off her USA visa or visiting privileges. Let her spend her foreign millions in her new homeland. Stanford federal research funding should be cut as long as she is a student there. Oh, and how many USA secrets is momma Gu sending to China on a daily basis?
Total disgrace she is.
She should loose her citizenship.
The Olympics started downhill when money got involved. It was much more entertaining when it was amatures. No pros allowed. Then some countries began sponsoring their athletes and paying them to train year round. Now professional athletes are the norm so countries can bid for them.A lot has been lost along the way.
Don’t let the twit back into the United States!
I am fine with Eileen Gu competing for China. Stanford should revoke her access to using their elite training facilities for her Olympics preparation and charge her more to attend Stanford University. Ms. Gu exemplifies the entitlement mindset of her generation who sneers at reporters with a snarky “I’ve got the most medals in history in my sport.” She complained Olympics in Italy failed to provide her sufficient training time there as if her $21+ million per year in endorsements warrants special treatment above others.
It would be interesting to find if if her mom is a citizen. It’s unlikely, given that China does not allow for dual citizenship. That she spent so much time in China and was supposedly not a citizen is a ridiculous concept – the Chinese would not allow it. We need to know if Ms. Gu has renounced her citizenship – if so she’ll need to file for visas at minimum – potentially be deported.
This reminds of an old bumper stick. Think Globally, Act Locally.
Make sure the policies of our own government do not encourage athletes to work for other nations.
How can it be ok for those outside China to support their nation prison in any way? The US is the number one destination for the consumer goods China produces. Read the tags for country of origin when making purchases. Support the best governments you can afford.
I’m sure she is getting paid very well from the Chinese. All American patriots should not acknowledge her on any level and should write any potential sponsor and let them know we will not buy their products because of their sponsorship. Hit them in the wallet where they will take note. She has the right to make this choice but is a disgrace to this country.
This is where she needs to reside then, China! Not America! Her loyalty is with Communist China, then send her to this oppressed Country. Stop this stupidity! Should she return to America with Medals in hand remove them from her or Deport with them back to China where her worthless heart belongs!
Interesting. There is an American male who competing on the Italian snowboard team for this Winter Olympics.
I am so sick of foreigners coming into the US and using us! This must stop. Their loyalty is not here so why give loyalty to that person, family or friends. US should never sponsor anyone who degrades us and uses us to benefit and promote another country. DONT and DONE!!!
US should propose an exchange…..traitor Gu for the HK editor/publisher just sentenced to 20 years
Maybe she gets injured for life skiing or whatever some day. Does she think the CCP will hesitate to harvest an athlete’s organs?
To be honest, I haven’t watched the Olympics on TV since the opening ceremony on February 6, 2026. I hope the American Olympic athletes respect America and the country they represent.
The US, and the Olympic Committee, created a mess when why first ever allowed an American citizen to play for any other country in the Olympics. Now that it’s been permitted, even though it was usually done for a smaller country that didn’t have enough good athletes, it’s gotten worse. There’s also the self-hating American youth that was created by our (lack of) education department. American schools have created a generation filled with self-hating Americans, all while they live conformable lives in the US. How about we simply no longer allow any American athlete to play for a “foreign” government? Maybe the Olympic Committee should enforce that rule on every country?Of course, there’s nothing you can do about people with dual citizenship, that’s another mess entirely.