As the 2026 Winter Olympics has been going on for the last couple of weeks now. there have been a lot of talented olympians being recognized for their own accomplishments and skill. Especially for Team USA there have been a lot of young athletes who have won gold and have shown lots of talent. As there have been several wins for the United States there has been some recent news that has happened between California natives Alysa Liu a single figure skater and freestyle skier Eileen Gu.
In a recent article that was posted on NBC News, there was some controversy with Liu winning Gold for America whereas Gu was competing for China in freestyle skiing winning silver. Both athletes were getting talked about who was the better Asian and this led to a lot of negative responses especially for Eileen Gu representing China instead of the United States. Washington Representative Michael Baumgartner reposted a post about Alysa Liu and stated Alysa Liu being greater than Eileen Gu. This led a lot of people to respond in a negative way since both athletes live in the United States. Christina Chin, A professor from California State stated, “We have two totally different sports. But yet there’s a tendency that if there’s two of them, then we must compare, we must make a racial comparison,” said Chin.
From a PR lens this could create a lot of issues especially for Eileen Gu. Since a lot of people from the U.S. don’t agree with Gu competing for China this could lead her to have a bad reputation and not want to support her. There are many people saying that Gu is betraying the United States for competing for China this could cause her to lose respect and trust over the United States. Even though people are comparing Liu and Gu, they are trying to do what they are passionate for which is figure skating and freestyle skiing.
