Olympic skier Eileen Gu has banked a staggering $23 million over the past year, yet a look at her books reveals a mystery that has left the sports world scratching its head.
Of that eye-watering fortune, it is estimated that only about $20,000 actually came from endeavors on the slopes – where she opts to represent China and not the US.
The 22-year-old, currently defending her titles at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, is earning a relative pittance from the very sport that made her a household name.
Yet, as her wealth explodes, so does the vitriol from back home, where critics and former athletes have begun openly labeling the San Francisco-born skier a ‘traitor.’
The answer lies in a high-stakes gamble that saw the California-born prodigy turn her back on Team USA to represent a nation 6,000 miles away.
By trading her American allegiance for a Chinese bib, Gu has cashed in on a billion-dollar market while being branded a defector by the country that raised her.
Olympic skier Eileen Gu has banked a staggering $23 million over the past year, yet a look at the books reveals a mystery that has left the sport world scratching its head
Of that eye-watering fortune, it is estimated that only about $20,000 actually came from endeavors on the slopes – where she opts to represent China and not the US
Her income is driven almost entirely by blue-chip endorsements including Cadillac, Tiffany & Co, Visa, and Victoria’s Secret
Born and raised in California to an American father and a Chinese mother, Gu was once the poster child for the bright future of United States winter sports.
A straight-A student who eventually secured a place at Stanford University, she grew up on the slopes of Lake Tahoe, where her mother worked as a part-time instructor.
However, in 2019, the then-teenager sent shockwaves through the industry by announcing she would compete for China in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
She claimed that the ‘incredibly tough decision’ was fueled by a desire to inspire millions of young athletes in her mother’s home country. It might have also been helped by what the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday was a $6.6 million payment from the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau last year, a sum reportedly shared with fellow US-born Olympian figure skater Zhu Yi.
During the last Olympics, she told the Associated Press, ‘In the US, growing up, I had so many amazing idols to look up to.
‘But in China, I feel like there are a lot fewer of those. I’d have a much greater impact in China than in the US, and that’s ultimately why I made that decision.’
Meanwhile, in an interview with ESPN in 2021, she said: ‘Since I was little, I’ve always said when I’m in the US, I’m American, but when I’m in China, I’m Chinese.’
Gu went on to claim gold in big air and halfpipe, as well as a silver medal in slopestyle in Beijing, where she made her first attempts at inspiring the next generation of Chinese Winter Olympic athletes.
In 2019, the then-teenager sent shockwaves through the industry by announcing she would compete for China in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
She claimed that the ‘tough decision’ was fueled by a desire to inspire millions of athletes
However, while the move was framed as a cultural bridge, experts have noted how it also placed her at the center of a unique economic opportunity that few other athletes could ever access.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Dr David Berri, a leading expert in sport economics, delved further into Gu’s career move and the benefits it has brought her: ‘When it comes to the Olympics, China and the United States are the two dominant nations.’
‘If you add up the medals from 2022 and 2024, there are only two nations that accumulated more than 100 medals,’ he noted of the two sporting juggernauts.
For a standard aspiring athlete, the prospect of moving between two of the most dominant sporting nations can be daunting and a decision that could likely mean that they never reach their goals of representing their nation at the Olympic Games.
But for Gu – who was destined for the big stage no matter who she represented – it offered her the prospect of becoming the ‘perfect storm’ on the Olympic scene.
‘Eileen Gu is in a unique position,’ Berri said. ‘We have an athlete competing in a large market, with relatively less competition for endorsement dollars (compared to the US), and who has been very successful in competition. Not surprisingly, she has landed quite a few endorsement deals.’
In the United States, an Olympic skier must compete for airtime and endorsements against a deep roster of legendary winter athletes and celebrities.
Dr David Berri, a leading expert in sport economics said: ‘We have an athlete competing in a large market, with relatively less competition for endorsement dollars (compared to the US), and who has been very successful in competition’
The 22-year-old ranked fourth in Forbes’ Highest-Paid Female Athletes list of 2025
Just taking the 2026 Winter Olympics as an example, the likes of rapper-turned-personality Snoop Dogg and Canadian singer Tate McRae have been called upon to help promote the Games in Milan.
Meanwhile, American star Lindsey Vonn has surged to prominence following her stunning comeback and subsequent injury heartbreak during the Games and will likely be sweeping up endorsements once she has recovered from her broken leg.
‘She [Gu] has a further advantage in China,’ Berri told the Daily Mail. ‘They have far less representation in the Winter Games compared to their summer dominance.’
Gu saw the gap and filled it, becoming the face of the Winter Games in China, while maintaining her high-fashion status back in the United States.
‘It doesn’t sound like this was her intention… but it probably worked out for her,’ Berri summarized regarding her transition to the Chinese national team.
‘Probably’ is an understatement for the 22-year-old sensation, who ranked fourth in Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest-Paid Female Athletes of 2025.
While the majority of the stars mentioned can be found plying their trade on a hard, clay or grass tennis court, Gu joined golf star Nelly Korda in breaking the mold.
For context, according to the outlet, Gu’s stunning $23 million off-field success was bettered only by US tennis star Coco Gauff. It also dwarfed the likes of WNBA star Caitlin Clark, whose ventures away from the basketball court only totaled $12 million.
Luxury car brand Porsche are just one industry-leading titan on Gu’s endorsement resume
At the age of 16, Gu covered for six different fashion magazines in China in just one summer
The mystery behind her $23 million earnings can be solved by a portfolio that reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of global industry leaders across the globe.
Her income is driven almost entirely by blue-chip endorsements including Cadillac, Tiffany & Co, Visa, and Victoria’s Secret, having also found success in modelling.
At the age of 16, Gu covered for six different fashion magazines in China during just one action-packed summer. In the United States, meanwhile, she has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
While Gu has managed to capitalize on commercial opportunities in both China and America, it has also brought along a wave of criticism as she steps further into the spotlight.
She has often faced questions as to why she chose to represent China over America, with some critics claiming she ‘betrayed’ the nation she was born in.
Gu previously addressed these criticisms on the Burnouts podcast, admitting she felt ‘really angry’ and ‘misunderstood’ by the one-sided attacks from the media.
‘Who are you to get to go online with this big platform? At least invite me for a debate. Let me come defend myself,’ she challenged her vocal critics.
However, she once again found herself in the firing line earlier this week, after taking aim at Donald Trump for his dressing down of US freestyle skiers Hunter Hess.
Freestyle skier Hunter Hess said he ‘doesn’t represent everything that’s going on in the US’
Gu offered her support to Hess in wake of his Trump criticisms – which was met with backlash
‘I’m sorry that the headline that is eclipsing the Olympics has to be something so unrelated to the spirit of the Games. It really runs contrary to everything the Olympics should be,’ Gu told reporters Monday.
‘The whole point of sport is to bring people together. One of the very few common languages, that of the human body, that of the human spirit, the competitive spirit, the capacity to break not only records, but especially in our sport, literally the human limit. How wonderful is that?’
Her comments sparked a wave of criticism online, with former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom labeling her a traitor for her decision to represent another country.
‘Eileen Gu is a traitor. She was born in America, raised in America, lives in America, and chose to compete against her own country.
‘She built her fame in a free country, then chose to represent an authoritarian regime while cashing in on endorsements linked by watchdog groups to mass detention and forced labor camps. When human rights come up, she disappears,’ Kanter wrote.
‘That’s not neutrality. That’s a choice. She chose to play for a country responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of its own people and that is running concentration camps right now, instead of the country where she was born and given opportunity.’
Whether she is a ‘traitor’ to some or a ‘hero’ to others, there is no denying that Eileen Gu has changed the business of the Olympics for every athlete following her.