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

U.S. Olympic figure skating sensation weighed in on the controversy surrounding for choosing to represent China instead of the U.S. 

Liu gave her thoughts and background with Gu during an interview with The New York Times. 

“Ive known Eileen since I was 13 or something. Were from the Bay Area. Shes super nice, and her mom is from China. I think people are hypocritical for shaming her for representing China. So, in my head, its a bit hypocritical, because her mom is an immigrant. Yall would have told her to go back to China. Now that theyre back in China, youre mad,” Liu said. 

 

“And its sport, it doesnt matter what country we represent. Sport is sport, and she has a love for competition, she has love for the game. I think thats all that matters. Theres no shame in going to where opportunity is.”

Gu was a target for global criticism during the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, as she won two silvers and one gold in freeskiing. 

Vice President JD Vance even weighed in on Gu’s decision during an interview on Fox News when the Olympics was going on. 

“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,” Vance said.

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

Gu later responded to Vance’s comment and went on to agree that she feels like a “punching bag for a certain strand of American politics.”

“Im flattered. Thanks, JD! Thats sweet,” Gu said of Vance’s comments, per USA Today.

“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 . 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.”

Throughout the Olympics, and especially after Liu made history as the first American to in a women’s individual figure skating competition since 2002 and the first American woman to medal at all in the event since 2006, the two athletes were relentlessly compared on social media for their similar backgrounds as American children of Chinese immigrants.

Liu’s father, Arthur Liu, fled China after participating in the Tiananmen Square protests in the summer of 1989, coming to America and having Alysa through a surrogate and anonymous egg donor.

Meanwhile, Gu’s mother, Yan Gu, was a student at Peking University studying chemistry and biochemistry, according to The New York Times. She came to the United States to earn a masters degree, eventually earning it from Stanford. 

At age 40, Yan gave birth to Eileen, and raised her as a single parent, according to Olympics.com. Not much is known about Gu’s father. Eileen has not publicly commented on him and declined to answer questions about him with The New York Times.

Then around 2018–2022, China accelerated a program aimed at recruiting foreign-born athletes, primarily with Ch