Alysa Liu Stands Up for Eileen Gu

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What to Know

01 People have been comparing Olympic athletes Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu even though they compete in different sports.
02 In the 2026 Olympics, Liu represented the U.S. and Gu represented China, which sparked backlash.
03 Liu defended Gu's decision during a recent interview and called her critics "hypocritical."

Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu don’t even compete in the same sport, but that hasn’t stopped people from pitting them against each other. Both Olympic athletes were born in California to Chinese immigrants and raised by single parents. However, while Liu represented the United States in the 2026 Winter Olympics, Gu chose to represent China, sparking backlash and a lot of unsolicited, mean-spirited comparisons between the two.

Some of the criticism Gu faced even came from American politicians, including Vice President JD Vance, who said he would “root for American athletes” who “identify themselves as Americans” by representing the U.S. And again, Liu is a figure skater and Gu is skier, yet Republican congressman Michael Baumgartner took to X to write, “Liu 🇺🇸 > Gu 🇨🇳” He’s definitely not the only person who did this, as a lot of people who were mad about Gu representing China adopted the phrase, “Be an Alysa Liu.”

But Liu has called them out for it.

During an interview with The New York Times, Liu called Gu’s critics “hypocritical.” She also mentioned that she’s known Gu for years now, and she only had positive things to say about her. “I’ve known Eileen since I was 13 or something,” she told the publication. “We’re from the Bay Area. She’s super nice, and her mom is from China. I think people are hypocritical for shaming her for representing China.”

The criticism feels hypocritical to Liu because of how a lot of people in the U.S. treat immigrants. “In my head it’s a bit hypocritical, because her mom is an immigrant,” she continued. “Y’all would have told her to go back to China. Now that they’re back in China, you’re mad.”

On Reddit, a lot of people agreed with her. “Americans want to have it both ways,” one person wrote in response to Liu’s comments. “They want to claim people when they can benefit from their talent but when they can’t it’s go back to where you came from.”

When speaking about her political beliefs, Liu has mentioned immigrant rights.

During an older interview with KARE 11, Liu spoke about attending protests. “Coming from a family of immigrants, I think immigrants deserve rights,” she said. “I think it’s a little silly, especially in America.” She elaborated on her politics a bit during a separate interview with Rolling Stone. When asked about the kinds of protests she has attended, she said, “A lot of climate stuff, but mostly, like, election things, Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, ICE protests.”

These comments sparked a lot of conversations on social media, given that many conservatives who don’t align with Liu’s politics have embraced and celebrated her (and compared her to Gu).

Many of them have acted like Liu is superior because she represented the U.S.

Cal State Fullerton sociology professor Christina Chin told NBC News that people clearly felt the need to “make a racial comparison.” Chin said, “There’s this ‘who’s a good Asian, who’s a bad Asian’ question that’s come down to these two athletes, who had many factors that went into their decision of who they were going to compete for.”

Meanwhile, Liu told The New York Times that “sport is sport.” She said, “It’s sport, it doesn’t matter what country we represent. Sport is sport, and [Gu] has a love for competition, she has love for the game. I think that’s all that matters. There’s no shame in going to where opportunity is.”

Gu has also defended her decision to represent China, admitting that she’s become “a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics.” She told USA Today, “So many athletes compete for a different country… People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China.”

READ NEXT: MAGA Seems Shocked To Find Out That Alysa Liu’s Family Is ‘Pretty Liberal’

Paige Sheffield