Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu defends Eileen Gu’s China decision

The US Olympic figure skating sensation weighed in on the surrounding controversy American-born Team China skater Elaine Gu To choose to represent China instead of the United States

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

“I’ve known Elaine since I was 13 or so. We’re from the Bay Area. She’s very nice, and her mother is from China. I think people are hypocritical because they shamed her for representing China. So in my head it’s a little hypocritical, because her mother is an immigrant. You were going to tell her to go back to China. And now that they’re back in China, you’re crazy,” Liu said.

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China’s gold medalist Elaine Gu poses with her medals after winning the women’s freestyle skating final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, February 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abby Barr)

“It’s the sport, it doesn’t matter what country we represent. The sport is the sport, it loves the competition, it loves the game. I think that’s all that matters. There’s no shame in going where the opportunities are.”

Gu was the target of global criticism during the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, where she won two silvers and one gold in free skating.

Vice President J.D. Vance even commented on Go’s decision during an interview on Fox News when the Olympics were going on.

“I have no idea what her status should be,” Vance said. “I think it’s ultimately up to the Olympic Committee, and I’m not going to pretend to get into that.”

“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America and has benefited from our educational system, and the freedoms that make this country a great place, I hope they would want to compete with the United States of America. So, I’m going to go to Root for American athletesI think part of that is people who identify as Americans. “That’s what I’m rooting for at these Olympics.”

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

“I’m flattered. Thanks, JD! That’s beautiful,” Go said of Vance’s comments, per USA Today.

“A lot of athletes compete for a different country… People only have a problem doing that because they lump China into this interconnected entity, and they just… I hate China. So it’s not really about what they think it’s about. And also because I win. Like if I wasn’t feeling well, I think they probably wouldn’t care as much, which is fine by me. “People have the right to express their opinions.”

Throughout the Olympics, and especially after Leo made history as the first American Winning the Olympic gold medal In the women’s singles figure skating competition since 2002 and the first American woman to ever medal in the event since 2006, the two athletes have been 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 fathering Alyssa through an anonymous surrogate egg donor.

Gold medalist Alyssa Liu of Team USA poses for a photo during the medal ceremony for women’s singles skating on day 13 of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at the Milan Ice Rink on February 19, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Gu’s mother, Yan Guo, was a student at Peking University studying chemistry and biochemistry, according to Xinhua. New York Times. She came to the United States to pursue a master’s degree, which she eventually earned from Stanford University.

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

Then, from approximately 2018 to 2022, China accelerated a program aimed at recruiting foreign-born athletes, primarily of Chinese heritage, to boost competitiveness, particularly for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and soccer, according to China project.

Gu and Liu were top recruiting targets.

The red, white, and blue Gu were replaced by red and gold. Just months after competing in the first U.S. Freestyle Ski World Cup in January 2019, she won Competed for China For the first time in June of that year after requesting a change of country with the International Ski Federation.

She said in an announcement on Instagram that she made the decision to “help inspire millions of young people” in China and “unite people, enhance mutual understanding, create communication and forge friendships between nations.”

US Olympian Alyssa Liu was targeted by Chinese spies – here’s what she had to say about it

Team Lius has remained loyal to Team USA.

Arthur was reportedly not “open to persuasion” to have Alyssa compete for China, according to NBC. The Economist.

In an interview with Time magazine, Gu was asked about her thoughts on China’s alleged persecution of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

Joe responded: “I didn’t do the research. I don’t think it’s any of my business. I’m not going to make big claims on my social media.”

“I’m more skeptical when it comes to data in general. So, it’s not like I can read an article and say, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.’ I need to get a lot of evidence. Maybe I need to go to the place, and maybe talk to 10 primary sources who are at a location and who have experience living there.

“Then I need to go see pictures. I need to listen to recordings. I need to think about how history has affected it. Then I need to read books about how politics has affected it. This is a lifelong search. It is irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece for any agenda.”

Silver medalist Elaine Gu of China poses for photos after the women’s freestyle skiing awards ceremony in the big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Livigno, Italy, February 16, 2026. (Photo by Wang Ping/Xinhua via Getty Images) (Wang Ping/Xinhua via Getty Images)

On the other hand, Liu and her family found themselves in the crosshairs of the Chinese government ahead of the 2022 Beijing Games amid her father’s past and her refusal to compete on behalf of China.

Before her appearance at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, she and her father were the alleged targets of a Chinese government spying operation.

Liu described the experience as “a bit strange and exciting.”

“You know what I mean? It’s unbelievable. You know what I mean, it’s crazy,” Liu previously told Fox News Digital in a roundtable interview at the USOPC Media Summit in October.

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Gold medalist Alyssa Liu of the United States displays her medal after competing in the women’s freestyle figure skating program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, February 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

“Like, imagine finding out at such a young age, I mean, in a weird way, I was like, ‘Am I like in some prank show?’ Like, is this world real? Like, I have to be a movie character. But, I mean, it just made sense to me, you know, from everything my dad did in his active days.”

Since winning the gold medal, Liu has surpassed Gu in the number of followers on social media. However, Leo too Withdrew from coming World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czech Republic.

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