Eileen Gu playfully denied JD Vance’s criticism of her during the Winter Olympics on Thursday.
In response to outrage over the U.S.-born freestyle skier competing for China in her second straight Olympics, the vice president recently said, “I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America, who has benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and freedoms that make this country a great place, I hope he wants to compete with the United States of America.”
Gu, an international celebrity and model who has won two silver medals at the Milan Cortina Games after winning two golds and a silver in Beijng in 2022, has been a lightning rod for judgment from often conservative naysayers.
Ex-NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom said on Fox News this week that Gu was a “traitor” who sided with an “authoritarian regime” after host Laura Ingraham portrayed her as an ingrate who aligned herself with the communists.
“So many athletes are competing for another country,” said Gu, whose mother is from China, according to USA Today. “People only have a problem with me doing it because they lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. So it’s not really about what they think it’s about.”
“And also because I win. If I wasn’t doing well, I think they probably wouldn’t care that much, and I’m fine with that. People are entitled to their opinions,” she continued.
