Winter Olympics: is Eileen Gu American or Chinese? Speculation swirls around her true nationality
- Netizens ask whether Gu is Chinese or American and raise concern on the possibility of Gu having dual Chinese and American citizenship
- ‘Does it matter? She is of mixed heritage and has sentimental ties to both sides,’ one commenter said on Weibo
A debate has erupted online over the true nationality of freestyle ski star Eileen Gu, after she posted a video of herself wearing China’s Olympic uniform.
Gu posted the video of her parading the official uniform of the Chinese Winter Olympics team on her Douyin and Instagram accounts on Wednesday.
The video, where Gu put on a lighthearted fashion show, garnered more than 18,000 and 38,000 likes on Instagram and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, respectively.
However, when shared on mainland social media by Chinese news outlets, reception to Gu’s video took a turn amid widespread discussion of Gu’s citizenship status, with some questioning her true nationality.
Netizens asked whether Gu is Chinese or American and raised concern on the possibility of Gu having dual Chinese and American citizenship. Gu was born and raised in San Francisco to a Beijing native mother and American father.