While the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics concluded back in February 2026, media discourse has not relented. Two athletes stand in the center of press coverage: Eileen Gu and Alysa Liu. Both athletes are from the Bay Area, are half-Chinese and won gold at the Winter Games. However, public perception of them differs sharply worldwide over the nations they chose to compete for. 

Eileen Gu, also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, is a 22-year-old freestyle skier and model. She was raised in San Francisco by her mother, Yan Gu, a Chinese immigrant who played a pivotal role in her career success. With a total of six Olympic medals, she has made history as the most decorated freestyle skier and the youngest Olympic freestyle skiing champion. Fluent in both Mandarin and English, Gu is also known for her embrace of her multicultural identity and chose to compete for the People’s Republic of China in 2019. Furthermore, she is also recognized for her love of academia, studying quantum physics at Stanford University. 

Alysa Liu, born in 2005, is an American figure skater who has been making waves in the figure skating world. As the oldest of five children, she was raised by her father, Arthur Liu, a Chinese immigrant and lawyer who supported her skating career. Liu is the first female skater to land a triple axel and a quadruple jump in one program, and is a 2026 Olympic gold medalist. After a brief retirement in 2022, where she enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she returned to figure skating in 2024 and has brought renewed joy and authenticity to the sport. 

In the United States, public perception frames the two as opposing archetypes: Gu as the athlete who “chose China for money,” and Liu as the “patriotic American.” Most notably, in an interview with Fox News, Vice President JD Vance has commented that someone who “benefited from our education system, from the freedom and liberties that make this country a great place” should compete for the United States. Other public figures, such as former National Basketball Association player Enes Kanter Freedom, have dubbed her a “traitor.” In contrast, Liu’s victory at the Winter Games is seen as a “victory for liberty,” and she has been applauded by much of the US media.

Their reputations also diverge sharply within the TAS community. Izzy C. (‘28) shared that “I think that the criticism was really unfair, as [Gu] worked really hard and competed really hard to achieve a successful Olympic career. I definitely do not think of her as a traitor and am still her biggest fan,” adding that for her, the Olympics is about celebrating athletes’ efforts, instead of politics. In contrast, Mr. Chee, who is part of the Upper School Academic Support team, stated that “to see anyone winning for another country is infuriating, and to see an American citizen who lives in the USA [compete for another country], is shocking from a Team USA fan perspective.” He also elaborated that “betrayal and selling out” are not qualities he supports.  

In China, the reverse holds true. Gu is known affectionately by the Chinese media as the “frog princess” and a “hero of China,” receiving much love from the public. Alysa Liu, whose father is a political refugee from the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests, is still much admired, but some dub her “a descendant of an anti-China figure,” with vague warnings referring to her family background. 

Ultimately, both athletes have resisted the binaries the media has imposed on them, with Liu calling the discourse “silly,” and Gu commenting that she was “flattered” by the criticism from American politicians. Whether cast as heroes or traitors, Gu and Liu appear uninterested in becoming the face of competing nationalism.

Reina C. (‘28) commented that “I think that they’re both very talented athletes in their own fields, and it’s pointless to make these comparisons over their personal choices.” Their experiences reveal a broader tension in the geopolitics between China and the United States: the impossible struggle faced by those who belong, in equal measures, to both worlds.