Chinese athlete Eileen Gu hits back at JD Vance who criticised her for not representing US

Winter Olympics champion, Eileen Gu has responded to Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, after he hit out at her choice to represent China.

Gu has been on a roll in the 2026 Milano games which saw her qualify at the halfpipe and also advance to the finals yesterday (21 February) where she won gold.

However, on 19 February, American-born Gu was questioned after the qualifiers about comments Vance made about her affiliation with China.

Vance had said he thought a person who grew up in the US would ‘want to compete with the United States’ when asked about Gu in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday (17 February).

Vance said he has ‘no idea’ what Gu’s status ‘should be,’ but: “I 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.”

JD Vance explained why he thinks a person from the US should represent the States (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

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

His words were brought up by reporters, who asked her if she feels ‘like a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment.’

“I do,” Gu responded to reporters at the Games. “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 hate China. So it's not really about what they think it's about.”

She went on to say people are more bothered about it because ‘I win’, explaining: “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.”

Gu hit back at critics (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The 22-year-old responded to the VP’s comments in a conversation with USA TODAY, saying: “I’m flattered. Thanks, JD! That’s sweet.”

This comes after Gu defended American freeskier Hunter Hess after he revealed he didn’t feel too comfortable representing the US in light of its current administration.

To this, Donald Trump called him a ‘real loser’ in a social media post.

“As someone who’s been caught in the crossfire before, I feel sorry for the athletes,” Gu said.

Gu was born in San Francisco, California, to Yan Gu, a first-generation Chinese immigrant to the United States, and an American father, and schooled at Stanford University.

LADbible reached out to the White House for comment.