- Tickets. Get the best tickets for NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB games and more on Tickets MARCA
- Celebrity net worth. Matthew Tkachuk Net Worth: How rich is the star of Team USA ice hockey?
- Olympic Games. Another Team USA skater cracks under pressure: Amber Glenn delivers disappointing performance
As we go through the middle of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, freestyle skier Eileen Gu is gathering most of the spotlights, but not for her performances on the air. As you may know if you follow her career, she chose to represent China over the United States in international competitions, generating many detractors but also increasing her financial portfolio.
Whether people see her as a cultural bridge-builder or, as her harshest critics suggest, a traitor to her birth country, there is no denying her status as a global phenomenon and influencer, sitting alongside other icons like Jutta Leerdam and Lindsey Vonn.
Her dual-identity concern
She was born and raised in the city of San Francisco and currently attends to Stanford University, so her closest ties are indeed with the U.S. However, she made the decision to compete on behalf of her mother's home country in 2019, in a move that sparked many doubts about her legal status as the Asian country does not recognize dual citizenship. Addressing these concerns, she has said:
"I'm American when I'm in the U.S. and Chinese when I'm in China
Her toughest critics claim that even though she wants to give an image of an athlete that desires to inspire young women from China and United States, it is Eileen Gu Incorporated that she represents, as the big sum of money obtained after opening to the Asian market is staggering.
A money machine
At the time of this article, Gu's earnings are astronomical. She currently takes an approximately $23 million per year just counting endorsements alone. This figure places her among the highest-paid female athletes on the planet despite coming from a sport where athletes get a prize money of about $100,000 per competition. Her portfolio shows a masterclass in marketing.
She has deals with international luxury brands like Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, and Cadillac; collaborates with Chinese giants like Anta Sports, Bank of China, and Luckin Coffee. She is also a recognized athlete for Estée Lauder and Red Bull.
Following her suiting up for China, she unlocked a market of 1.4 billion people, increasing her commercial value exponentially compared to what she would earn being just another star on a very big and crowded Team USA roster.
Her direct payouts from Beijing
Perhaps the main controversial bit lies in the confirmed Gu's direct payments from the Chinese government. According to a study from The Wall Street Journal, the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau spent a significant amount of money to Gu and fellow U.S.-born athlete Zhu Yi.
The document suggested that the bureau was set to pay the pair a combined $6.6 million in 2025 alone. This document was later wiped from existence, according to multiple sources. Over a three-year span leading up to this 2026 Milan Games, the total investment for the two athletes reportedly reached nearly $14 million.
The backlash has been fierce on her, as many highlight that the money she is receiving comes from a country where privacy, fairness, and transparency are non-existent.