- Eileen Gu became the most-decorated Olympic free skier of all time with six medals in six starts.
- At the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, Gu won gold in halfpipe and silver in big air and slopestyle.
- The 22-year-old balances her skiing career with attending Stanford University and modeling.
- Gu continues to face scrutiny for competing for China and avoids questions about her citizenship.
LIVIGNO, Italy – As Milano Cortina 2026 organizers whisked away Eileen Gu – it had been more than an hour since the medal ceremony of the women’s free ski halfpipe ended, such are the media obligations of an international superstar – I snuck in a question regarding the, now, most-decorated Olympic free skier of all time.
‘Is there anything you want that you don’t have?’
Gu laughed in her patented way, and I assured her that I realized the existentialism behind my inquiry.
‘I want to be better,’ she said. ‘I feel like you can always improve. I want to be more patient. I think that, yeah, maybe I’m an impatient person. Being more patient with people, always being curious, there’s so many things for me to learn from every single person.’
The stance she’ll always take, she added, is to be a student of the world.
That’s the enigma of Gu in a nutshell. She is genuine, unapologetically herself and equally rehearsed. She is frighteningly intelligent but isn’t above pleading ignorance.
Gu’s second run Sunday – the competition postponed to the final day of the Games due to snow the night prior – clearly pleased the judges, who rewarded her with a 94.00 that improved in her third run to a 94.75.
Gu took silver in the big air and slopestyle competitions and was the lone woman to compete in all three events, something she did four years ago at the Beijing Winter Olympics, where she made history by winning two gold and a silver.
At just 22 years old and holding six Olympic medals in six Olympic starts, Gu’s career on the snow is already solidified as the best to ever do it.
‘That’s really special to me,’ said Gu, who added:
‘I never thought that I would be the one who would get to hold this record.’ It was never her goal. But she did put 100% of herself into the sport and reaped the results.
Gu described herself as first one in, last one out. She’s quick to point out that she’s the most-decorated free skier – and has the most golds. Talk the talk, walk the walk, she does.
‘It’s like bearing your soul … it’s very honest,’ she said of skiing.
After the last Olympics, Gu spent nine months away from the sport. She has no designs on stopping this time. After Milan Fashion Week, she’ll compete in Switzerland as part of Shaun White’s Snow League.
Her many interests help the other parts of herself recover, she said. At school – going back to Stanford, where she’ll be a junior, is absolutely in the cards – her body rests with an active mind. In skiing she reaches flow state and her mind is at ease. Fashion feeds her soul by being expressive.
‘Try skiing or try a sport,’ she said, a response to those who criticize her. ‘I think it’s so interesting, because the people who hate on me – I’ve never gotten any hate from any other athlete who I’ve ever met.’
Sports are a tool for unity, she said, with age, race, religion, ethnicity all thrown out the window – it’s about the ecstasy of landing and the despair of coming up short. Gu is a fierce advocate for young girls remaining in sports when they often drop out too early.
She wants the haters to take that energy and improve their situations. That’s what she’s doing, as a biracial, young woman, she said.
“This is the way I can inspire the most good on a global scale,’ said Gu, who won silver in her other two competitions at these Games. She now has three golds and three silvers.
She has been on the other side of a lot of creative insults, she said, which gives her hope for a more creative world.
She says a lot without saying anything. She plays us media like a fiddle. Even Derek Jeter would be envious.
Gu hits talking points like a politician; a debate between her and Vice President J.D. Vance? Now, that would be must-see television.
Any possibility of a career in American politics went out the window the minute she signed up to compete under the five-star red flag. She’s loved in China, but isn’t without her detractors. There are sport purists in the States who certainly appreciate her talent, but she has no true fan base in America for obvious reasons.
Who knows which outside forces influenced that decision? She was a teenager. Her mother, Yan, the central figure in her life, is a single mom who raised her. But Gu is an adult now and intends to major in international relations, yet shares no opinion on U.S.-China trade deals or the inhumane treatment of minority populations in either place she calls ‘home.’
Not wanting to go there makes sense. Once she does, the endorsements and sponsorships and dollars decline. I’d keep my mouth shut if I made more than $20 million last year. But that decision is a window into her priorities at this stage in her life.
Gu refuses to answer her citizenship question. By competing for China, she’d have to renounce her American passport, unless the Chinese government made an exception.
Gu told Time Magazine’s Sean Gregory last year the question isn’t relevant. I can’t think of a more relevant one when it comes to international competition. Through the prism of a business decision, she likely made the right one. But we’ll never know how big Gu’s star could have been in the U.S.
There is no denying her skill on skis. Gu hadn’t done a big air event since winning it four years ago in China, then came in second. She is the best free skier in the world – it’s not particularly close – and her career could last another decade if that’s what she wanted.
But this is what really matters: in her mind, she believes she’s doing the best she can to make the world a better place.
One of her messages here was about the fear within young people when it comes to following dreams and what it takes to conquer that.
There’s also no denying Gu doesn’t always receive a fair shake from the press. The question by a British journalist last week about whether she viewed her two silver medals from earlier in the Olympics as “two golds lost” was a slap in the face to the profession. The way Gu laughed it off – and told the reporter off – is an example of her poise and intellect.
After each of her events, even the qualifying rounds, security at Livigno Snow Park had to usher out the adoring Chinese fans who shrieked her name. Gu knows how the bills are paid. After the final score secured her gold, she ran to her fans and threw up a heart symbol with her arms. That adoration has taken her this far in the span of four years.
Gu has the money, the medals, the fame. She can walk a runway Tuesday, give a corporate pep talk Wednesday, go to class Thursday and ski anywhere in the world she wants on Friday.
So what does somebody who seemingly has it all want?
I guess we’ll also have to work on our patience to find out.
This post appeared first on USA TODAY
