Alysa Liu speaks out on Eileen Gu's decision to compete for China over US and political backlash

U.S. Olympic fig skating sensation weighed successful connected the contention surrounding American-born Team China skier Eileen Gu for choosing to correspond China alternatively of the U.S. 

Liu gave her thoughts and inheritance with Gu during an interrogation with The New York Times. 

"I’ve known Eileen since I was 13 oregon something. We’re from the Bay Area. She’s ace nice, and her ma is from China. I deliberation radical are hypocritical for shaming her for representing China. So successful my caput it’s a spot hypocritical, due to the fact that her ma is an immigrant. Y’all would person told her to spell backmost to China. Now that they’re backmost successful China, you’re mad," Liu said. 

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Gold medalist China's Eileen Gu poses with her medals aft winning the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe last astatine the 2026 Winter Olympics, successful Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026.  (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

"And it’s sport, it doesn’t substance what state we represent. Sport is sport, and she has a emotion for competition, she has emotion for the game. I deliberation that’s each that matters. There’s nary shame successful going to wherever accidental is."

Gu was a people for planetary disapproval during the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, arsenic she won 2 silvers and 1 golden successful freeskiing. 

Vice President JD Vance adjacent weighed successful connected Gu's determination during an interrogation connected Fox News erstwhile the Olympics was going on. 

"I person nary thought what her presumption should be, I deliberation that's yet up to the Olympics Committee, I won't unreal to wade into that," Vance said.

"I surely deliberation that idiosyncratic who grew up successful the United States of America who benefited from our acquisition system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this state a large place, I would anticipation they privation to vie with the United States of America. So, I'm going to basal for American athletes, I deliberation portion of that is radical who place themselves arsenic Americans. That's who I'm rooting for successful this Olympics."

Gu aboriginal responded to Vance's remark and went connected to hold that she feels similar a "punching container for a definite strand of American politics."

"I’m flattered. Thanks, JD! That’s sweet," Gu said of Vance's comments, per USA Today.

"So galore athletes vie for a antithetic country. ... People lone person a occupation with maine doing it due to the fact that they benignant of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they conscionable hatred China. So it's not truly astir what they deliberation it's about. And also, due to the fact that I win. Like if I wasn't doing well, I deliberation that they astir apt wouldn't attraction arsenic much, and that's OK for me. People are entitled to their opinions."

Throughout the Olympics, and particularly aft Liu made past arsenic the archetypal American to triumph Olympic golden successful a women's idiosyncratic fig skating contention since 2002 and the archetypal American pistillate to medal astatine each successful the lawsuit since 2006, the 2 athletes were relentlessly compared connected societal media for their akin backgrounds arsenic American children of Chinese immigrants.

Liu's father, Arthur Liu, fled China aft participating successful the Tiananmen Square protests successful the summertime of 1989, coming to America and having Alysa done a surrogate and anonymous ovum donor.

Gold medalist Alysa Liu of Team United States poses for a photograph during the medal ceremonial for the Women's Single Skating connected time thirteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games astatine Milano Ice Skating Arena connected Feb. 19, 2026 successful Milan, Italy.  (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Gu's mother, Yan Gu, was a pupil astatine Peking University studying chemistry and biochemistry, according to The New York Times. She came to the United States to gain a master’s degree, yet earning it from Stanford. 

At property 40, Yan gave commencement to Eileen, and raised her arsenic a azygous parent, according to Olympics.com. Not overmuch is known astir Gu's father. Eileen has not publically commented connected him and declined to reply questions astir him with The New York Times.

Then astir 2018–2022, China accelerated a programme aimed astatine recruiting foreign-born athletes, chiefly with Chinese heritage, to boost competitiveness, notably for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and soccer, according to The China Project.

Gu and Liu were apical recruiting targets.

Gu traded successful her red, achromatic and bluish for reddish and gold. Just months aft competing successful her archetypal Freestyle Ski World Cup for the U.S. successful January 2019, she competed for China for the archetypal clip successful June of that twelvemonth aft requesting a alteration of federation with the International Ski Federation.

In an announcement connected Instagram, she said she made the determination "to assistance animate millions of young people" successful China and "to unite people, beforehand communal understanding, make communication, and forge friendships betwixt nations."

US OLYMPIAN ALYSA LIU WAS ONCE TARGETED BY CHINESE SPIES – HERE'S WHAT SHE HAS TO SAY ABOUT IT

The Lius remained loyal to Team USA. 

Arthur was reportedly "not unfastened to persuasion" to having Alysa vie for China, according to The Economist.

In an interrogation with Time Magazine, Gu was asked her thoughts connected China's alleged persecution of Uyghurs and different Turkic Muslim minorities successful Xinjiang.

"I haven’t done the research. I don’t deliberation it’s my business. I’m not going to marque large claims connected my societal media," Gu answered. 

"I’m conscionable much of a skeptic erstwhile it comes to information successful general. … So it’s not similar I tin work an nonfiction and beryllium like, ‘Oh, well, this indispensable beryllium the truth.’ I request to person a ton of evidence. I request to possibly spell to the place, possibly speech to 10 superior root radical who are successful a determination and person experienced beingness there. 

"Then I request to spell spot images. I request to perceive to recordings. I request to deliberation astir however past affects it. Then I request to work books connected however authorities affects it. This is simply a lifelong search. It’s irresponsible to inquire maine to beryllium the mouthpiece for immoderate agenda."

Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China poses for photos aft the awarding ceremonial of the freestyle skiing women's freeski large aerial lawsuit astatine the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games successful Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images) (Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Liu and her family, connected the different hand, recovered themselves successful the crosshairs of China's authorities up of the 2022 Beijing Games amid her father's past and her ain refusal to vie for China.

Before her quality successful the 2022 Beijing games, she and her begetter were the alleged targets of a spying cognition by the Chinese government.

Liu called the acquisition "a small spot freaky and exciting."

"You cognize what I mean? It's truthful … unbelievable. You cognize what I mean like, that's crazy," Liu antecedently told Fox News Digital astatine a roundtable interrogation astatine the USOPC Media Summit successful October.

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Gold medalist Alysa Liu of the United States displays her medal aft competing successful the women's escaped skate programme successful fig skating astatine the 2026 Winter Olympics, successful Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026.  (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

"Like, ideate uncovering that retired astatine specified a young age, I mean, similar In a weird way, I was like, 'Am I similar successful immoderate prank show?' Like, is this satellite real. Like, I indispensable beryllium immoderate movie character. But, I mean, it was similar it made consciousness to me, you know, from similar everything my dada did backmost successful his activistic days."

Since winning gold, Liu has surpassed Gu successful societal media followers. However, Liu has besides pulled retired of the upcoming World Figure Skating Championships successful Prague, Czech Republic. 

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