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| Two Chinese American daughters of the San Francisco Bay Area are in the Olympics: Eileen Gu, left, competes for the Peoples Republic of China and the United States' Alysa Liu. |
In the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area—a place where identity is as layered as the fog rolling over the Golden Gate—two young women were born into a world of complex heritage and shifting loyalties. As the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics unfold, Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu have become the mirror images of a community’s deepest fractures.
The two young women are roughly the same age, both products of elite Northern California environments, and both balancing the rigors of American higher education. Yet, on the world’s biggest stage, their paths have diverged in ways that put Chinese Americans in a quandary: Who do we claim as our own?
On one hand, Alysa Liu represents the United States. Born in Clovis, Calif. and raised in the East Bay, she was homeschooled in her high school years and attends the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Liu is the daughter of a political refugee who fled China following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Her story is the classic American immigrant arc—one of seeking freedom and finding gold.
On February 8, she helped lead Team USA to a gold medal in the figure skating team event, a triumphant return after a two-year break from the sport.
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On the other hand, Eileen Gu competes for the People's Republic of China. A San Francisco native, she attended a private high school and attends Stanford University, the same school attended by her Chinese-born mother, reportedly a venture capitalist. Gu spent summers in Beijing and speaks fluent Mandarin with a local accent. In 2019, she made the controversial choice to represent China, citing a desire to inspire young girls in her mother's homeland.
On February 9, she secured a silver medal in the freestyle skiing slopestyle final for China, missing gold by a mere 0.38 points.
Gu is reportedly the richest athlete competing in the Winter Games. Newsweek reports her net worth at $50 million,the majority gained through modeling and endorsements, not prize money.
A community divided by choice
For many in the Chinese American community, these athletes aren't just competitors; they are "opposing archetypes" in a narrative they didn't write.In some circles, it is simple, it is The "Patriot" vs. The "Mercenary." Political commentators have been quick to weaponize their choices. Liu is often championed as a symbol of American values, while Gu faces labels of "traitor" or "mercenary" for representing a geopolitical rival while benefiting from American training and sponsorships.
However, in real life, the reality of duality makes the choice more complicated. Despite the backlash, Gu’s famous refrain—“When I’m in the US, I’m American; when I’m in China, I’m Chinese”—strikes a chord with those who live a hyphenated existence. They see her not as a defector, but as someone navigating the "messy middle" of a two-power world.
"All of this frames how the media and the public make sense of Liu and Gu, who have been cast as the good and bad immigrant respectively," Professor Richard King of Columbia College Chicago told the BBC.
However, in real life, the reality of duality makes the choice more complicated. Despite the backlash, Gu’s famous refrain—“When I’m in the US, I’m American; when I’m in China, I’m Chinese”—strikes a chord with those who live a hyphenated existence. They see her not as a defector, but as someone navigating the "messy middle" of a two-power world.
The comparison between the two has sparked fierce commentary on social media widening the everpresent gap between pro-PRC segments and democracy advocates; Alysa cast as a free spirit and Gu as an ungrateful elitist.
"All of this frames how the media and the public make sense of Liu and Gu, who have been cast as the good and bad immigrant respectively," Professor Richard King of Columbia College Chicago told the BBC.
View from the edge
Though they represent different flags, their lives share a striking rhythm. Both are navigating the pressures of Gen Z stardom, balancing exams with Olympic podiums, and dealing with the weight of two cultures on their shoulders.
FYI: Alysa Liu is back on the ice for Women's Short Program on February 17.Gu will have the big air final on Monday, followed by the halfpipe qualifiers on Thursday, with the final coming Saturday.
They have never met, yet they share a specialized SF Bay Area upbringing that few others can understand. In a different world— one less dominated by "Great Power Competition"— they might have been friends, two California girls sharing boba and talking smack about their rival schools, discussing the impossible pressure of being everything to everyone. Instead, they remain the two poles of a community searching for its place on the edge of two worlds.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.
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