Eileen Gu’s candid 3-word response to Olympic | Sports News

Eileen Gu has issued a candid response after she was dubbed a “traitor” for representing China over the United States on the Winter Olympics.

The Chinese athlete delivered a dominant efficiency throughout the Games, medaling in each freestyle snowboarding occasion she entered and cementing her standing as one of the game’s most embellished opponents, with six Olympic medals throughout two appearances.

Despite questions surrounding her swap of national allegiance, the 22-year-old has at all times maintained that she has no regrets, pointing to her continued success as proof of a profession that has positioned her among the many most completed Olympians in historical past.

Born in San Francisco to a Chinese mom, Yan Gu, she spent her summers in Beijing and has characterised herself as embracing each cultures and made the choice to signify her mom’s homeland at simply 15-years-old.

When requested about her choice as a teenager to signify China in worldwide competitors in an interview with Esquire, Gu declined to revisit the subject, saying “it’s old news”. She stated she considers the whole lot she needs to say publicly in regards to the choice to already be out there on her Instagram account.

Gu mirrored on her time in Italy via an Instagram post the place she justified her choice after the backlash. “I can look back now, at 22, and tell 12 year old Eileen that there are now terrain parks full of little girls, who will never doubt their place in the sport” stated Gu. “I can tell 15 year old me that there are now millions of girls who have started skiing since then, in China and worldwide.

“Lots of people will not perceive or consider that I made a choice to create the best quantity of optimistic affect on the world stage that I might, at this age, given my pursuits and passions. Three golds and 6 medals later, I can confidently say what was as soon as a dream is now a actuality.”

The Olympic champion was drawn back into a nationality debate after former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom referred to her as a “traitor” for choosing to compete for China despite being born and raised in the United States.

The controversy resurfaced during a FOX News interview with Martha MacCallum, when JD Vance was asked to respond. While Vance did not adopt Freedom’s wording, he clearly outlined his position, stating that he would only support athletes representing Team USA, regardless of their country of birth.

“I actually assume anyone who grew up within the US, who benefitted from our training system and the freedoms and liberties that make this nation a great place, I’d hope they’d need to compete with the U.S.,” he said at the time. “So I’m going to root for American athletes and half of that’s people who determine themselves as Americans.”