Five-time Olympic medalist Eileen Gu just shut down a reporter’s question asking if she’d “lost” two gold medals by finishing second in her events.
The 22-year-old Olympic freeskier, who was born in the US and is representing China in the 2026 Winter Olympics, was responding to a reporter who asked whether Gu felt disappointed not to win gold in Milan.
“Do you see these as two silvers gained or two golds lost?” the journalist asked a press conference following her second silver at these games. During her Winter Olympic debut in Beijing in 2022, Gu won two golds.
Gu immediately laughed off his question and, without hesitation, said: “I am the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that is an answer in and of itself.”
“How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every athlete.”
“Doing it five times is exponentially harder, because every medal is equally hard for me, but everybody else’s expectations rise, right? And so the two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think it’s kind of a ridiculous perspective to take,” she added.
Zing!
The clip quickly garnered significant attention online.
You got to give lots of credit to Eileen Gu for responding brilliantly back to the reporter with great confidence.
She looked him in the eye said that was a “ridiculous perspective” without any hesitation or fear. 😁 pic.twitter.com/fPz5uQIosT— Alvin Foo (@alvinfoo) February 18, 2026
Alvin Foo, venture partner at Chain Valley Capital, reposted the clip on his X feed, writing, “You got to give lots of credit to Eileen Gu for responding brilliantly back to the reporter with great confidence.”
“She looked him in the eye said that was a “ridiculous perspective” without any hesitation or fear,” he added. Foo’s post has received over 700,000 views.
Other posts praising Gu for being confident and poised gained thousands of views.
Gu’s messaging and self-advocacy follow the trend of what Business Insider’s Amanda Yen recently dubbed “The most Gen Z Olympics yet.”
It’s been an Olympics full of public statements and oversharing, Yen wrote.
This has included a Norwegian biathlete who confessed to cheating on his ex in a slopeside interview, and American figure skater Amber Glenn addressing discrimination against the queer community under President Donald Trump.
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