Olympian Eileen Gu Responds After JD Vance Slammed Her Decision to Compete for China

Olympian Eileen Gu, who became the most decorated freestyle skier in history last month, responded after Vice President JD Vance criticized her for choosing to compete for China rather than the United States.

“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China,” Gu, 22, shared via Instagram on Monday, March 2. “At the time, I had spent one season on the US team, and had been lucky enough to meet my heroes in person.”

“I had spent every summer in China since I was 8 setting up summer camps on trampoline and dry slope for kids and adults, ranging from 7 to 47 years old, so I knew the industry was tiny,” she continued. “I felt like I knew everyone.”

“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport, and to introduce freeskiing to hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of it, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner,” the athlete shared.

According to Gu, a student at Stanford University, her impact on the sport has been obvious worldwide, simply in the number of young girls skiing competitively.

“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create the greatest amount of positive impact on the world stage that I could, at this age, given my interests and passions,” she added. “Three golds and six medals later, I can confidently say [what] was once a dream is now a reality.”

Despite her success, Gu’s decision to compete for her mother’s home country drew criticism from many, including the VP, who said he would be rooting for “American athletes…who identify themselves as American.”

“Somebody who grew up in the United States of America, who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that make this country a great place, I would hope they would want to compete with the United States of America,” Vance said in a Fox interview in February.