Eileen Gu competed in three events in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. She won in all three of them, firmly establishing herself as a true legend in the sport of freestyle skiing.
Gu won back-to-back silver medals in her first two events, the slopestyle and the big air. She saved her best for last, the halfpipe, which is her preferred discipline.
Gu turned in a dominant performance to win the gold medal in the halfpipe. She made history by winning her sixth career Olympic medal. This made her the most decorated freestyle skier in the history of the Winter Games.
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
On Monday, Gu took to social media to send a farewell message to the Olympics. The 22-year-old used the opportunity to reflect on her journey from being a young dreamer to becoming a six-time Olympic medalist.
As she looked back on her second stint in the Winter Games, Gu shared how she felt the weight of representing women in freestyle skiing at just 9 years old. She wrote, “It was about disproving the derisive implication of what it meant to ‘ski like a girl.’”
Gu, a San Francisco native, then went on to address her major career decision to represent China over the United States.
“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China,” she posted on Instagram. “At the time, I had spent one season on the US team, and had been lucky enough to meet my heroes in person. I am forever grateful for that season, and continue to maintain a close relationship with the team.”
Gu explained why she felt more compelled to represent China.
“I had spent every summer in China since I was 8 setting up summer camps on trampoline and dry slope for kids and adults, ranging from 7 to 47 years old, so I knew the industry was tiny,” she continued. “I felt like I knew everyone.
“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport, and to introduce freeskiing to hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of it, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner.”
Gu’s father is American. Her mother, Yan Gu, is a first-generation U.S. immigrant from China. As she said, the two-time World Championships gold medalist spent a lot of her childhood in China, where she also where she honed her love for skiing.
Gu also expressed how proud she is of the immense impact she’s had on women’s skiing, not only in China but across the world.
“I can look back now, at 22, and tell 12 year old Eileen that there are now terrain parks full of little girls, who will never doubt their place in the sport,” she wrote. “I can tell 15 year old me that there are now millions of girls who have started skiing since then, in China and worldwide.
“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create the greatest amount of positive impact on the world stage that I could, at this age, given my interests and passions. Three golds and six medals later, I can confidently say was once a dream is now a reality.”
Gu has received a lot of criticism for choosing China over the United States. She’s taken all the negativity in stride and has responded in the best way she can — by becoming one of the greatest freestyle skiers in history.