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Eileen Gu, the American-born Olympic skier who chose to represent Team China at the Winter Games, was honored at the Chinese New Year celebration in San Francisco on Saturday.
Gu was the grand marshal of the parade and expressed in an interview before the festivities what the honor meant to her.
“This is a special thing to be a grand marshal and to be a part of it,” she told KGO-TV.
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Olympic gold medalist and grand marshal Eileen Gu waves during the Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Gu remembered attending the parade with her family when she was younger, and the times her mother and grandmother cooked in the kitchen.
The three-time gold medalist told the station she was focused on making a bigger impact around the world.
“My biggest goal has always been to make the greatest amount of positive impact on the global stage that I possibly can,” she said. “At this point, it takes the form of sports, fashion and education.”
Gu came under fire during the Olympics and received criticism for avoiding the chance to compete for Team USA and represent the nation of her birth.
She reflected on the decision last week.
“I gave my first speech about women in sports and Title IX when I was 11 years old. I talked about being the only girl on my ski team, and despite going to an all-girls school from Monday to Friday, I became best friends with my teammates on the weekend through the common language of sports,” Gu wrote on Instagram.
Eileen Gu waves to the crowd during the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Gu went on to express gratitude for the one season she competed for the United States
“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China. By that time I had spent one season on the US team and had been lucky enough to meet my heroes in person. I am forever grateful for that season and continue to maintain a close relationship with the team. I had spent every summer in China since I was 8 years old setting up trampoline and dry hill summer camps, so I knew from kids to 7-year-olds to 7-year-olds. The industry was small, I felt like I knew everyone,” she added.
“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the sport’s universal culture and to introduce freeskiing to hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of it, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner.”
Gu’s statement ended by acknowledging that some people “don’t understand” her decision to compete for China over the United States, while insisting that the choice maximized the impact she wanted to have.
“I can look back now, at 22, and tell 12-year-old Eileen that there are now terrain parks full of little girls who will never doubt their place in the sport. I can tell 15-year-old me that there are now millions of girls who have started skiing since then, in China and worldwide,” Gu wrote.
Gold medalist Ailing Eileen Gu of the People’s Republic of China celebrates during the medal ceremony for the women’s skiing halfpipe during the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Livigno Snow Park on February 22, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
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“Many people will not understand or believe that I made a decision to make the greatest amount of positive impact on the world stage that I could, at this age, given my interests and passions. Three golds and six medals later, I can confidently say that once a dream, it is now a reality.”
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