Five-time Olympic medalist Eileen Gu has gone viral for her impressive response to a reporter asking if she “lost” two gold medals by finishing second.
Gu, 22, became the most decorated women’s freestyle skiing Olympian in history this week with her fourth and fifth medals at the Milan Cortina Games after winning two golds and one silver in the 2022 Beijing Games — but at a press conference Monday, a reporter asked if she considered her two silver medal wins so far at the Winter Olympics as “two silvers gained or two golds lost.”
The American-born Team China star immediately laughed off the reporter’s question before firing back: “I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history, I think that’s an answer in and of itself.”
She continued, “How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every athlete. Doing it five times is exponentially harder because every medal is equally hard for me, but everybody else’s expectations rise, right?
“The two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think is kind of a ridiculous perspective to take,” she said. “I’m showcasing my best skiing, I’m doing things that quite literally have never been done before so I think that is more than good enough, but thank you.”
After the press conference, fans flooded the internet with praise for Gu as the video racked up millions of views on X alone.
“Great response to a ridiculous question. Eileen is poised and mature beyond her age,” one person wrote on X. Another added, “Totally love it, What a glorious and gracious clapback to this dude.”
A third X user wrote: “I became a huge fan of her. The way she conducts herself and has always well measured answers is great. I hope she becomes a role model for her generation.”
Gu, a Stanford student and a successful model in addition to being a freestyle skiing sensation, is the highest-paid Olympian at this year’s games, with Forbes reporting that she earned over $23 million in endorsements in the last year.
Her decision to compete for China instead of Team USA has been a major talking point throughout her career due to her being born and raised in San Francisco, California. However, the champion announced in 2019 that she chose to represent China — where her mother is from — in hopes of making the sport more mainstream in the country.
Gu entered the 2026 Olympics with two gold medals under her belt from winning Big Air and Halfpipe at the 2022 games, as well as a silver for finishing second in Slopestyle. This year, she won silver in Slopestyle again before finishing behind Canada’s Megan Oldham in the Big Air competition. Her next event is the women’s freeski halfpipe qualifiers Thursday afternoon.
She told reporters Saturday: “I’m proud to be the only freestyle skier competing in three events. I’m here to give my best. We’ll see what happens.”
