‘Thanks, JD!’ Eileen Gu Claps Back After Vice President Slammed Her Decision to Compete for China

AP Photo/Gregory Bull and Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP

On Thursday at the Winter Olympics in Milan, Chinese-American skier Eileen Gu responded to Vice President JD Vance’s criticisms over her decision to compete for China, quipping, “Thanks, JD!”

The 22-year-old Gu has been open in the past about competing for China, saying the decision reflects her mother’s roots — she was born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother from Beijing. Milan marks her second Olympic appearance, winning two gold medals and a silver in freestyle skiing for China in 2022. So far in 2026, she’s secured two silver medals.

During a Tuesday appearance with Fox’s Martha MacCallum, Vance responded to the allegation that her decision to ski for China was a “treasonous move.”

“I certainly think that somebody who grew up in the United States of America, who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that make this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” said Vance of Gu, who’s currently a student at Stanford University.

Speaking with USA Today on Thursday after advancing to the Feb. 21 freestyle skiing finals, Gu said of the vice president’s critiques, “I’m flattered. Thanks, JD! That’s sweet.”

She was then asked whether she feels “like a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment,” to which she responded, “I do.”

“So many athletes compete for a different country,” she continued. “People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. So it’s not really about what they think it’s about.”

She went on to mention that she was even attacked on Stanford’s campus last year by an individual similarly enraged over failure to represent Team USA, describing being “physically attacked” in “broad daylight.”

“It was pretty serious,” she remarked.

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