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It is as captivating as it is divisive: the tale of two Chinese American athletic geniuses who have so much in common but make such different choices.<\/p>\n
Eileen Gu, a 22-year-old freestyle skier, and\u00a0Alysa Liu, a 20-year\u2014old figure skater, were both born to Chinese immigrants in California, and both were brought up in single-parent households. Both are elite athletes who turned in gold-medal performances at\u00a0the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics\u00a0last month.<\/p>\n
But public opinion diverges over their choices about the countries for which they compete.<\/p>\n
Gu chooses to represent China, while Liu waves the U.S. flag. Those decisions are generating heated debates over loyalty \u2014 an issue interwoven with money, values and politics on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n
In China, many laud Gu for identifying herself as Chinese and competing for the honor of the motherland. But plenty praise Liu, too, for her free spirit and genuineness \u2014 sometimes with a subtle nod to her father\u2019s role in\u00a0the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests\u00a0that landed him in the United States.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., Gu\u2019s choice has raised eyebrows among politicians, including Vice President JD Vance, and even prompted a congressional proposal threatening to tax 100% on athletes such as Gu who compete for countries like China and Russia in the Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny American who works with a foreign adversary has not only betrayed our country but must be stripped of all benefits from doing so,\u201d said Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee.<\/p>\n
For Gu, it\u2019s a Chinese dream come true<\/p>\n
To a large extent, Gu\u2019s is a story of China\u2019s economic success, when its spectacular growth has made it alluring for those with Chinese roots to return for greater financial gains.<\/p>\n
Gu was born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother working in finance. No information about her father is available. Gu competed for China in the Winter Games in both 2022 and 2026, and she has landed endorsements worth millions of dollars from major Chinese brands as well as multinationals eyeing the Chinese market.<\/p>\n
In 2022, when she won two golds and one silver in Beijing, Gu was a national idol and fondly known by her Chinese nickname, Frog Princess. Video clips of her eating Chinese snacks went viral on social media. Her performances in Italy were closely followed and celebrated in China.<\/p>\n
She has long said her decision to compete for China has more to do with getting girls involved in her sport \u2014 with a greater opportunity for growth there than in the United States \u2014 than about pure dollars and cents.<\/p>\n
But controversy over Gu\u2019s citizenship has cast a shadow over her popularity, with members of the public questioning her loyalty, wondering aloud if she has given up her U.S. passport to comply with the Chinese law against dual citizenship. Gu has dodged the question, making it anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n
Hu Xijin, a former party newspaper editor in China, argued that what\u2019s important for China is attracting talents like Gu and chalking it up as a win over the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s China is stronger, and it can provide Gu with interests that cannot be realized if she represented Team U.S.A.,\u201d Hu wrote in a social media post. \u201cShe has the sharp judgment to pick Team China, and this is the magnetic effect resulted from China\u2019s growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liu has chosen differently<\/p>\n
For Liu, skating for China is out of the question.<\/p>\n
Liu was born to Arthur Liu through surrogacy. Unlike Gu\u2019s mother, Liu\u2019s father fled China when he was wanted by the authorities for his involvement in the 1989 student movement that ended with a bloody crackdown in the heart of Beijing and forced many student activists into exile. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed when the military quelled the protests on June 3-4, 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cChinese people still have no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, and there are still political prisoners in China,\u201d Arthur Liu recently told Nikkei Asia. \u201cClearly, I wouldn\u2019t allow my daughter to compete for such a government.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Chinese government embraced Gu with flattering publicity and millions in state funding for her training, Liu said he only let his daughter compete in Beijing in 2022 with assurances from the State Department and the U.S. Olympic Committee about her safety. The FBI had\u00a0warned him\u00a0that he and his daughter were targeted in a Chinese government spying operation. That year, Alysa Liu placed sixth in women\u2019s single skating.<\/p>\n
This time, she became the first American woman to win Olympic figure skating gold in 24 years. Her story spread wildly in China\u2019s social media, garnering praises such as \u201cfree spirit\u201d and \u201cmore genuine.\u201d Some, however, pledged loyalty to Gu and suggested that Liu\u2019s success was nothing for the Chinese people to get excited about.<\/p>\n
With Liu\u2019s rise, her father\u2019s story bubbled up in China\u2019s social media, though any mention was usually brief and cryptic because the 1989 Tiananmen Movement \u2014 generally known as 6-4 for\u00a0the date of the military crackdown, remains a deeply sensitive political taboo in China 37 years later. While some called the elder Liu a freedom fighter, others denounced him.<\/p>\n
The comparison between his daughter and Gu was so prevalent that Arthur Liu was asked about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is entitled to her own ambition,\u201d the father said in a YouTube chat with Zhang Boli, another former student activist. \u201cThe two have chosen different paths, and people immediately see the contrast. The contrast is so sharp that people cannot help but comment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the comparison recently, Alysa Liu told Newsweek: \u201cOh, my God, I think this discourse is really silly because we\u2019re both half Chinese.\u201d<\/p>\n
Backlash in the US<\/p>\n
The backlash against Gu in the United States this time appeared to start with Vance, who told Fox News during the Games that \u201cI certainly think that somebody who grew up in the United States of America, who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that make this country a great place, I would hope that they want to compete with the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Gu said, \u201cI\u2019m flattered. Thanks, JD! That\u2019s sweet,\u201d USA Today reported.<\/p>\n
Ogles\u2019 bill aside, Rep. Lisa McClain, a Michigan Republican, slammed Gu for not even having \u201cthe respect for the country which has given them so much to represent that country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Citizenship change is nothing new in competitive sports, and other Chinese Americans or Chinese Canadians have played for Team China. But they have not riled up public opinion as Gu has, noted Susan Brownell, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studies Chinese sports and the Olympic Games. \u201cIt does really appear,\u201d she said, \u201cthat part of the issue here is if you\u2019re good enough to beat the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
Badiucao, a Chinese-Australian artist, illustrated the comparison in two drawings: one of Alysa Liu skating triumphantly along with the Statue of Liberty, the other of Gu draped in an oversized, blood-dripping piece of Chinese currency, its image of Mao Zedong looking over her shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a world of Eileen Gu,\u201d the artist wrote, \u201cbe Alysa Liu.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP sports writer Stephen Wade in Tokyo contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
#Eileen #Alysa #Liu #Olympians #Californians #countries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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