A China expert has urged President Trump to revoke Eileen Gu’s citizenship amid outrage over her decision to compete for China.
Minutes after Alysa Liu won Olympic gold for Team USA, the conversation quickly shifted to questions of loyalty and national pride.
Social media highlighted Liu’s upbringing as the daughter of a Chinese immigrant who fled communism while drawing stark comparisons to another Bay Area-born star skating under a different flag.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy posted on X “Alysa Liu > Eileen Gu” and later called it “The triumph of America over China!”
Eileen Gu, born and raised in California, left Team USA at 15 to represent China on the international stage.
American lawyer and political analyst Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital that Gu’s choice reads like a betrayal compared with Liu’s patriotism.
Eileen Gu automatically renounced her American citizenship when she accepted Chinese nationality. It’s time for the Trump administration to yank her U.S. passport. https://t.co/YaU0P5DuJ3
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) February 23, 2026
Family histories and contrasting choices
Both athletes grew up in the Bay Area with single parents who emigrated from China, but their family stories could not be more different.
Alysa Liu’s father, Arthur Liu, participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and faced grave danger after the crackdown.
He was later summoned by Chinese Communist Party authorities over his involvement in the demonstrations.
Arthur Liu told USA Today that he refused to provide names of students and that taking responsibility for his actions put him at risk.
Alysa Liu > Eileen Gu 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) February 19, 2026
He fled by boat to Hong Kong and eventually settled in California, where he raised Alysa and put her on the ice at age five.
Alysa has praised her father’s persistence and bravery in interviews with Fox News Digital.
Gu’s mother, Yan Gu, left China for academic pursuits and studied at Peking University before earning a master’s degree from Stanford, according to The New York Times.
Gu debuted in a Freestyle Ski World Cup for the United States in January 2019 and months later switched allegiances to China as Beijing ramped up a drive to recruit foreign-born athletes ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
In explaining her decision, Gu said she hoped to inspire millions in China and to promote understanding and friendship between nations.
The move also proved lucrative, as Gu is reportedly the highest-paid Winter Olympian and earned $23 million in 2025 from endorsement deals with Chinese firms like the Bank of China and Western brands.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Gu and fellow American-born skater Zhu Yi received $6.6 million in 2025 from the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau for striving for excellent results in qualifying for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics.
While Gu won two gold medals for China in Beijing in 2022, Alysa Liu remained loyal to Team USA.
Ahead of those Games, Liu and her father were targeted in an alleged Chinese spying operation that involved an impostor posing as a USOPC official seeking passport information, according to The Associated Press.
Liu characterized the episode as “a little bit freaky and exciting.”
With Liu standing atop the podium in red, white and blue, debate over loyalty, opportunity, and national pride has intensified and attention has returned to Gu.
Conservative observers argue that revoking Gu’s citizenship would send a strong message that American loyalty cannot be traded for opportunistic ties to Beijing.
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