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Olympic ‘Traitor’ Fires Back At Vance Over American Disloyalty

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JD Vance
Photo Credit: "J. D. Vance" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Vice President JD Vance said he hopes athletes raised in America compete for the United States, prompting Olympic skier Eileen Gu to fire back with a pointed reply.

Gu, who was born in the United States and has competed for China since 2019, represented China again at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina.

Fox News host Martha MacCallum pressed Vance during a Tuesday interview about Gu’s decision.

“Enes Kanter has said she’s a ‘traitor,’ some people have said that this is treasonous, to ski for China, and to overlook Jimmy Lai, and the Uyghurs, and to pretend like those things aren’t problems, are a huge problem. What do you think her status should be, should it be changed?” MacCallum asked.

Vance declined to weigh in on Olympic eligibility but made clear where his loyalties lie.

“I have no idea what her status should be, I think that’s ultimately up to the Olympics Committee, I won’t pretend to wade into that,” he replied.

“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” he added.

“So, I’m going to root for American athletes, I think part of that is people who identify themselves as Americans. That’s who I’m rooting for in this Olympics.”

When asked about Vance’s comments, she brushed them aside. “I’m flattered. Thanks, JD! That’s sweet,” she jabbed back.

She acknowledged that she feels like “a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment.”

“I do,” Gu said. “So many athletes compete for a different country. … People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of 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. Like if I wasn’t doing well, I think that they probably wouldn’t care as much, and that’s OK for me. People are entitled to their opinions.”

The 22-year-old also revealed she has faced threats and violence while studying at Stanford University.

“Not by a Stanford student,” she said of an assault on campus. “Like a person who came and physically attacked me in broad daylight. And then our dorm was robbed. … It was pretty serious, yeah.”

“The police were called. I’ve had death threats. I’ve had my dorm robbed,” she told The Athletic.

“I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever.”

Gu remains one of the most decorated female freestyle skiers in history.

She has captured two silver medals in Milan Cortina in slopestyle and big air. The halfpipe final marks her final shot at gold.

Her qualifying run drew attention after she clipped the lip of the halfpipe on her third trick, losing a ski and sliding to the bottom.

The run still earned 86.50 points, placing her fifth among the 12 skiers advancing.

“I was relieved,” Gu said. “I just kind of had this moment of like, ‘Thank you.’ You know, I shouldn’t be in this position to begin with, but I’m glad that I was able to reinforce my sense of self-belief at the moment when it counted.”

A separate exchange with a reporter also went viral. When asked whether her medals were “silvers earned” or “golds lost,” Gu rejected the framing.

“I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that’s an answer in and of itself,” she said.

“How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every athlete. Doing it five times is exponentially harder because every medal is equally hard for me, but everybody else’s expectations rise, right?”

“The two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think is kind of a ridiculous perspective to take. I’m showcasing my best skiing. I’m doing things that quite literally have never been done before. So, I think that is more than good enough, but thank you.”

Criticism from former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has been much sharper than the remarks Vance made.

Kanter, who has condemned China’s treatment of Uyghurs, labeled Gu a “traitor” on social media.

“She was born in America, raised in America, lives in America, and chose to compete against her own country for the worst human rights abuser on the planet, China,” Kanter wrote.

“She built her fame in a free country, then chose to represent an authoritarian regime while cashing in on endorsements linked by watchdog groups to mass detention and forced labor camps,” he added.

“When human rights come up, she disappears,” he continued. “That’s not neutrality. That’s a choice.”

“You don’t get to enjoy the freedoms of U.S. citizenship while acting as a global PR asset for the Chinese Communist Party. By choosing to promote the CCP on the world stage, Eileen Gu forfeited any moral claim to America and should not keep her U.S. citizenship,” he concluded. “She chose Communism over Freedom.”

Gu has declined to speak extensively about China’s treatment of Uyghurs, and side-stepped blatantly questions in a recent interview.

In a TIME magazine profile before the Olympics, she said it was “not her business” to address the issue.

“I’m not an expert on this. I haven’t done the research. I don’t think it’s my business. I’m not going to make big claims on my social media,” she said.

Pressed on whether she could research the matter, she claimed that it would take a “lifelong” study to form a conclusion on.

“I’m just more of a skeptic when it comes to data in general. So it’s not like I can read an article and be like, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.’ I need to have a ton of evidence,” she said.

“I need to maybe go to the place, maybe talk to 10 primary-source people who are in a location and have experienced life there.”

“Then I need to go see images. I need to listen to recordings. I need to think about how history affects it. Then I need to read books on how politics affects it. This is a lifelong search.”

Financial questions have also surfaced. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2025 that a public budget showed the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau was set to pay Gu and U.S.-born figure skater Zhu Yi a combined $6.6 million.

According to the outlet, their names were later deleted from the budgets soon after they emerged.

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