Eileen Gu isn't sweating the what-ifs. After becoming the most decorated women's freestyle skier in Olympic history with five medals, the 22-year-old US citizen competing for China was asked at a Milan Cortina press conference if she viewed her pair of 2026 silver medals as "two silvers gained or two golds lost," per SI.com. Gu laughed, then replied, "I'm the most decorated female freeskier in history, I think that's answer in and of itself," calling the "two golds lost" framing "a ridiculous perspective." Gu, who also won two golds and a silver at the 2022 Beijing Games, said every Olympic medal is "life-changing," and that repeating the feat gets harder as outside expectations climb.
She emphasized that she's landing runs "that quite literally have never been done before" and that her performance is "more than good enough," ending with a polite "but thank you." She added, per the AP: "'Five-time Olympic medalist' kind of has a nice ring to it." Clips of the exchange have spread widely on social media, drawing praise for her composure and response.
Gu, a San Francisco native who's studying international relations at Stanford, is also making headlines for another reason: Per USA Today, US Vice President JD Vance is calling her out for deciding to ski for China. Gu's mother is from China, while her father is an American. Gu, who also represented China in the 2022 Beijing Games, has said in the past that she's made that choice to raise awareness about freestyle skiing in China, where it is far less known than in the US.
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