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Gold Medalist Speaks Out After Liberal City Honors Olympic Traitor

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Alysa Liu
Photo Credit: YantsImages, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu pushed back on criticism aimed at American-born skier Eileen Gu, arguing the outrage over Gu competing for China is “hypocritical.”

The controversy surrounding Gu resurfaced during the recent Winter Olympics, where the American-born freestyle skier won two silver medals and a gold while representing Team China.

Critics in the United States have repeatedly questioned why the California native chose to compete under the Chinese flag rather than for Team USA.

Liu, who also grew up in the Bay Area and has known Gu for years, dismissed the backlash in an interview with The New York Times.

“I’ve known Eileen since I was 13 or something. We’re from the Bay Area. She’s super nice, and her mom is from China,” Liu explained while discussing the criticism aimed at the skier.

The Olympic champion argued that critics are applying a double standard to Gu’s situation.

“I think people are hypocritical for shaming her for representing China,” Liu remarked, noting that Gu’s family background often gets ignored in the debate.

Liu pointed out that Gu’s mother immigrated from China and suggested that critics who tell immigrants to “go back” to their home countries are now condemning Gu for embracing that connection.

“Her mom is an immigrant. Y’all would have told her to go back to China,” Liu commented. “Now that they’re back in China, you’re mad.”

The figure skating star framed the decision as a personal choice tied to athletic opportunity rather than political loyalty.

“Sport is sport,” Liu said, arguing that what ultimately matters is a competitor’s love for the game. “There’s no shame in going to where opportunity is.”

Gu’s Olympic success once again placed her in the middle of a global debate about national identity in sports.

Despite representing China in competition, the 22-year-old athlete returned to the United States earlier this year and appeared at Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco.

Gu served as the grand marshal of the parade, an appearance that drew both celebration and criticism.

Speaking to KGO-TV ahead of the festivities, Gu reflected on what the moment meant to her.

“This is a special thing to be grand marshal,” she told the outlet, recalling how she used to attend the parade as a child with her family.

Gu described memories of growing up in the Bay Area while maintaining close ties to her Chinese heritage, including time spent with her mother and grandmother in the kitchen.

“My biggest goal has always been making the greatest amount of positive impact on the global stage that I possibly can,” Gu explained.

At this point in her career, she said that goal plays out through “sport, fashion and education.”

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The athlete’s choice to compete for China also drew commentary from political figures during the Olympics.

Vice President JD Vance addressed the issue in an interview on Fox News, stressing that his support remained with Team USA.

“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America… I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” Vance stated.

He stopped short of directly criticizing Gu but made clear where his loyalties lie during international competition.

“I’m going to root for American athletes,” Vance added, explaining that he tends to support competitors who identify themselves as Americans.

Gu later responded to the vice president’s remarks and suggested the controversy surrounding her career reflects broader political tensions.

“I’m flattered. Thanks, JD! That’s sweet,” Gu quipped while addressing the comments.

She argued that many athletes compete for countries other than the one where they were born and claimed the criticism directed at her often stems from attitudes toward China itself.

“So many athletes compete for a different country,” Gu remarked, suggesting that the backlash is unique because of geopolitics.

According to the skier, critics frequently treat China as a single political entity rather than acknowledging personal or cultural ties individuals may have to the country.

“People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity,” Gu said, adding that some critics simply “hate China.”

She also suggested that her competitive success may amplify the attention.

“Because I win,” Gu commented, adding that critics might not pay as much attention if she were not winning medals.

The Olympic star has also spoken extensively about the decision that ultimately shifted her athletic career toward China.

In a lengthy Instagram post last week, Gu reflected on her early involvement in sports and the path that led to her competing internationally under China’s flag.

She recalled giving her first speech about women in sports and Title IX when she was just 11-years-old, describing how athletics helped her build friendships and confidence.

“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China,” Gu wrote, explaining that she had spent only one season on the U.S. team before making the switch.

Gu said her summers in China, where she helped organize training camps for young skiers, convinced her that the sport could grow rapidly there.

“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport,” she wrote, adding that she hoped to introduce freeskiing to “hundreds of millions of people.”

Gu acknowledged that many critics still struggle to understand her decision.

“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create the greatest amount of positive impact,” she wrote.

Looking back now, the athlete argued that the choice produced tangible results.

“There are now terrain parks full of little girls who will never doubt their place in the sport,” Gu wrote, pointing to the rapid growth of skiing participation in China.

Gu’s situation has intensified after Liu captured Olympic gold in women’s figure skating, becoming the first American woman to win the event since 2002.

Online commentators frequently compared Liu and Gu because both athletes were raised in the United States by Chinese immigrant families.

The comparison took on additional significance after Liu’s father revealed that Chinese officials had attempted to recruit his daughter to compete for China as part of a broader effort to attract overseas athletes.

Arthur Liu, who left China after the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, rejected the proposal outright.

“I would not allow my daughter to compete on behalf of China,” he told Nikkei Asia, citing what he described as serious human rights violations.

Arthur Liu also claimed there had been contact from Chinese officials encouraging Alysa Liu to switch national teams.

“I made it very clear that I would not allow her to compete on behalf of China,” he stated.

While he declined to discuss specific financial incentives, Liu acknowledged the offer could have included a lucrative package.

“The financial package would have been very enticing,” he remarked.

According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, Gu and fellow American-born athlete Zhu Yi were expected to receive a combined $6.6 million from Beijing’s municipal sports bureau in 2025.

Despite the ongoing debate, Arthur Liu declined to criticize athletes who made a different choice than his daughter.

“Their choices are theirs, and my choices are mine,” he said.

Still, Liu reiterated the broader reason he refused China’s recruitment effort.

“Chinese people still have no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion and there are still political prisoners in China,” he argued, adding that he could not support having his daughter represent such a government.

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