Why Eileen Gu competes for China in skiing at Olympics and not U.S. after controversy

One of the most well-known athletes at the 2026 Winter Olympics is a ski star competing for China. 

Eileen Gu, though, wasn't born in China. She was born in the United States. It draws extra attention to her moves on the slopes.

Her worldwide popularity due to her early fame and social media stardom only shines an additional light on her every move.

Gu got her Olympics competition underway Saturday in Italy when she finished second in the qualifying round of the women's slopestyle competition.

She'll have plenty more time in the spotlight before these Olympics are through.

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Why does Eileen Gu compete for China and not United States at the Olympics?

Gu made her decision to compete for China when she was 15 years old in 2022, and she did it for representation reasons.

“The U.S. already has the representation,” Gu has said in the past about popularity of women's skiiers in the United States. “I like building my own pond.”

Adding a bit to the controversy was that Gu had already competed for Team USA during three slopestyle World Cup events before she made the switch.

She wrote at the time that it was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help to promote the sport I love."

Gu then captured all the headlines while landing a double cork 1620 in the big air competition to claim the gold medal.

“My whole thing was, it’s all upside,” recalls Gu. “Because if I land, I will win the Olympics. If I don’t land, then I get to make history as the first person to ever try this trick in such a situation. It’s a decision that I would be super proud of and live with forever.”

She'll be trying to add more medals to her collection at these Olympics. And she'll have plenty of people watching.

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