It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s Eileen Gu! (Photo credit NBC screenshot)

A ray of sunshine

As far as I can tell, the 2026 Italy Winter Olympics was a smashing success, with performances of a lifetime, upset winners, and stunning disappointments. The U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams both winning gold medals was sensational. On the lighter side, video of Stanley Tucci and Snoop Dogg hanging out while exchanging gifts was quite amusing.

NBC and its affiliates put on a first-rate broadcast, with a nice blend of stirring performances and inspirational background stories. Views of Italy, featuring cozy downtowns in the shadows of awe-inspiring mountains, were stunning. Sometimes, I wished NBC would give us more about non-Americans who won medals rather than focusing on Americans who finished, say, seventh. But overall, led by the right-man-for-the-moment, host Mike Tirico, NBC sizzled. It was a delightful two-week respite that showcased the world coming together, rather than trying to tear itself apart.

Last week, I wrote that figure skater Ilia Malinin and bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor were my co-favorite athletes of these games. After watching the second week of competition, they are joined by Eileen Gu (pronounced Goo, rhyming with zoo). Gu finished her record-setting Olympics by winning the gold medal in the freeski halfpipe. She leaves Italy with a gold and two silver medals. Gu now has six Olympics medals (three gold and three silver), and is the most decorated freeskier – male or female – of all time.

Of course, we aren’t allowed to just appreciate the bedazzling 22-year-old Gu. This being America there must be manufactured controversy surrounding Gu, much of it coming from – no surprise – MAGA conservatives and online trolls.

Gu was born in San Francisco, to a mother who is Chinese and an American father. At the age of 15, Gu decided to honor her mother by joining the Chinese team. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Gu won three medals: a gold and two silver (same as this year). For those calling Gu a traitor here’s some perspective; the USA national soccer team regularly brings on foreign-born dual citizens to play for the U.S.

The media was no match for Eileen Gu. (Photo credit NBC screenshot)

When questioned last month about her perfectly legal, within the rules choice to play for China, Gu responded she wants to inspire Chinese girls. “The U.S. already has the representation. I like building my own pond,” said Gu. A student at her mom’s alma mater, Stanford University, Gu studies international relations and has done coursework in quantum physics. Gu scored a perfect 1560 on the SAT. In other words, she’s nobody’s fool. The confident Gu, who happens to be beautiful, is also a model and has appeared on the cover of Vogue.

It’s been reported that China paid Gu millions to join their team. Forbes estimates she made $23 million in 2025, including money from U.S. corporations. So what? Olympians around the globe are paid big money. As ESPN’s Dan Wetzel explained (paraphrasing here), what is more all-American than following the money, wherever it might be? (Just ask Jared Kushner about the $2 billion he accepted from Saudi Arabia.)

The goody two shoes blabbering about Gu’s lack of patriotism show little knowledge of patriotism, and even less common sense. Their nonchalant acceptance of out-in-the-open financial corruption, running rampant in the criminal enterprise known as the Trump administration, renders Gu’s critics as absolute hypocrites.

One of America’s most visible embarrassments, Vice President JD Vance, once again proved way out of his league on the global stage. Couch potato Vance commented that the sophisticated Gu, having been raised in America and benefitting from American schools, should be competing for America. Does Vance also believe Elon Musk, raised in South Africa, should take his SpaceX operation to Pretoria? Vance’s “he doesn’t get it” posturing reaffirms the world needs more intelligent humans like Eileen Gu and fewer hillbillies like JD Vance.

Gu does her thing (“win, baby, win”) despite receiving threats from cowardly, faux patriots whose own patriotism falls flat. A large swath of flag-waving citizens can’t be bothered with voting. Many fail a basic understanding of the First Amendment. Others cannot find Vermont on a map.

Eileen Gu (C) won the gold medal. Massachusetts native Zoe Atkin (R) won a bronze medal for Britain. Britain?! I don’t recall anybody complaining about Atkin competing for Britain. (Photo credit NBC screenshot)

For too many Americans, mostly MAGA men and MAGA women who subscribe to the traditional (trad) role for wives and girlfriends, Eileen Gu is a major threat. She represents a future that is crowding out lazy, uneducated young men. Gu is an out-of-reach woman who would never adhere to the trad-wife role, with its old-fashioned viewpoint that women should be in the kitchen and vacuuming family room carpets.

Gu has been slammed by some media and conservatives for not calling out China’s abuse of human rights. In classic hypocrisy those same people chastised American skier Hunter Hess for calling out America, when he admitted to “mixed feelings” about wearing the American flag. Hess said he doesn’t support everything happening in the U.S. (presumably meaning the government murdering peaceful protesters) but he “loves America and its freedoms.”

Eileen Gu is fiercely independent, brilliantly intelligent and does not suffer fools. After being asked by a member of the media if her two silver medals were won, or if she’d lost two gold medals, Gu laughed at the dumb question, then politely pulverized the poor chap. She concluded saying, “To be frank, the two medals lost is a ridiculous perspective.”

As Ilia Malinin would tell you, being heavily favored to win gold – as if it’s your birthright to win gold – comes with expectations that can be debilitating. Gu has the mental strength to handle the pressure.

Props to Eileen Gu for unapologetically doing it her way.

GU-REAT!