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The New York Times’ sports section, “The Athletic,” published articles this week celebrating Eileen Gu, an American-born Olympic skier who chose to compete for China, and criticizing the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team for agreeing to visit with President Donald Trump after their gold medal win.
The analysis piece about Gu, headlined “Inside the mind of Eileen Gu, Winter Olympics superstar — and so much more,” noted that the athlete has won the most gold medals of any free skier and was the “highest earner” at the Olympics.
“With three silvers and three golds to her name across two Olympics, Gu is a freak of nature, extraordinary in every sense of the word. So what is next for a young woman who seems to have it all?” the Times’ analysis said.
The story quoted Gu talking about her events: “I guess it’s more like, I don’t know, it’s very honest.”
Gold medalist Eileen Gu Ailing of Team China during the medal ceremony for the Women’s Freeski Halfpipe Final on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Livigno Air Park on Feb. 22, 2026. Members of the U.S. Mens Olympic hockey team after winning Gold over Canada on Feb. 22, 2026. (Wei Zheng/CHINASPORTS/VCG via Getty Images; Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“It makes you look in the mirror and see who you are. You can’t lie to yourself. The work you’ve done or haven’t,” Gu said, per The Athletic.
The Wall Street Journal reported in early February that Gu and another Olympic athlete were set to be paid a combined $6.6 million in 2025 by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, citing a public budget that was released in early 2025. Gu and the other athlete were set to be paid $14 million in total over the past three years by the bureau, according to the Journal.
The piece noted criticism of Gu, reporting that some may question her honesty and values because of the Journal’s reporting.
However, the piece continued, “You would be forgiven if you thought Gu was a quasi-human robot expertly created by artificial intelligence, so eloquent are her responses to the media, but she is not immune to pressure, and after losing her balance on her first run in the halfpipe, she felt it.”
“Yet Gu bet on herself, not only in this event, but even daring to compete in three Winter Olympic events — slopestyle, halfpipe, and big air — the only female freestyle skier to do so,” The Athletic’s analysis said.
OLYMPIANS SPEAK OUT IN DEFENSE OF EILEEN GU AMID CRITICISM FOR COMPETING FOR CHINA OVER US
Gold medalist China’s Eileen Gu poses with her medals after winning the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Despite all the praise for Gu, the Times’ sports section columnist Jerry Brewer admonished the U.S. men’s hockey team in a piece published Tuesday headlined, “The U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team won gold — and then lost the room.”
Brewer wrote that typically, speaking to the president after winning gold and agreeing to visit would be part of an obligatory celebration, but that it was different with Trump in office.
“But this isn’t a neutral climate. This isn’t a neutral president. And in a nation this polarized, the proximity carries weight whether the players are being intentional or merely naive. America no longer experiences these rituals in the same way, and it may never again. Athletes would be wise to recognize that, in this climate, celebration is easily repurposed into political capital,” he wrote.
“The hockey team neither created this divide nor possessed a shrewd political instinct to wrap their victory in a partisan glow. But when they stepped so early into that embrace, they narrowed their moment,” Brewer continued. “It doesn’t ruin what they accomplished in defeating a seemingly indomitable Canadian squad. But the widespread celebration is over now. And some of their goodwill has diminished.”
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Goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck of United States celebrates winning the gold medal during the Ice Hockey Men’s Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Feb. 22, 2026, in Milan, Italy. (Andrea Branca/Eurasia Sport Images)
Brewer argued the athletes needed to be more savvy and said they misread the moment.
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“These champions have agency,” he wrote. “In the afterglow of triumph, they have more agency than they ever will. They should be wary of giving it away so casually.”
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