Whether you like her or not, Eileen Gu is one of the three biggest stars at the Olympics in terms of global interest alongside Jutta Leerdam and Lindsey Vonn. She boasts more than three million followers on Instagram and more than 500,000 followers on TikTok.
However, the American-born skier does not compete for the United States.
Gu made the decision to represent her mother’s home country in 2019. She won multiple medals for China in each of the last two Olympics, including two silver medals in Italy at the time of this writing.
Why does Eileen Gu compete for China?
Critics will say that Gu is traitor for bailing on the United States to represent communist China. Plus, China does not typically allow for duel-citizenship so it is possible that she had to relinquish her status as a citizen of the United States despite living in the U.S. and attending college at Stanford. She won’t say.
Supports of Gu will say that it doesn’t matter. There are countless other athletes who do not represent where they live. She is not the first person to compete for a country that is not her own.
This of course is a little bit different. We’re talking about China— not, say, Estonia. But I digress.
According to Gu, the decision to compete for China over the United States did not have anything to do with politics. It has everything to do with culture.
Gu spent her summers in China as a kid. Her maternal grandfather was the chief electrical engineer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Her mother received a master’s degree in chemical engineering at Peking University. She feels a deep bond with her heritage.
Gu also decided to represent China because of its impact on the youth. There was an opportunity to inspire young girls who might not see skiing as a legitimate avenue for success in a country that often promotes more traditional career paths over sports. She wanted to bring visibility to skiing.
That’s what she Gu, at least. In reality— we all know the truth.
Eileen Gu does not represent the United States or China. Eileen Gu represents Eileen Gu Incorporated. The 22-year-old does whatever is best for her. And that’s okay! We just need to call it how it is.
If the money is green…
As of early 2026, Gu earns approximately $23 million per year just from endorsements. That number does not include competition prize money. Nor does it include her payout from China.
Gu is one of the highest-paid female athletes globally because of her deals with international brands like Estee Lauder, Cadillac, Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton. She also has deals with Chinese brands like Anta, as well as the Bank of China. Her income is not dependent on location or values.
That seems to be the ethos of Gu’s decision making. Money is money!
According to Rachel Bachman of the Wall Street Journal, Eileen Gu also gets paid a sizable chunk of money directly from the Chinese government. The Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau was set to pay Gu and U.S.-born figure skater Beverly Zhu a combined $6.6 million in 2025.
The leaked document that revealed this direct payment has since been wiped from existence so we do not have any additional information. It did not specify which athlete would get paid what but we can assume that Gu gets a larger share than Zhu.
Even if it is split down the middle, that is still $3.3 million!
Per the budgeting document that was viewed by Bachman, the sports bureau of Beijing was set to pay Gu and Zhu nearly $14 million in total over the last three years. The most recent payment was earmarked as “striving for excellent results in qualifying for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics.”
Both Gu and Zhu’s names were deleted from the budgets as soon as they emerged as a topic of discussion. Any additional criticism from the Chinese public were also scrubbed from social media.
It’s almost as if China doesn’t want the world to know just how much the two American athletes are worth. It’s almost as if they are being used as political pawns.