Chinese skier Eileen Gu is a ‘traitor’ who chose to compete for ‘the worst human rights abuser on the planet’ over the United States, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has fumed.
Gu, who has claimed two silver medals at the Winter Olympics in Italy, has received a huge backlash from conservative commentators for snubbing her birth country to represent China – seen as a ‘sports-washing’ coup for America’s Communist adversary.
China has leveraged her glamorous, Western-educated image to deflect international condemnation over the repression of Uyghur Muslims and the dismantling of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong, and Freedom has taken aim at the athlete for allowing it.
‘I’m just going to say it, she’s a traitor,’ the Turkish and American human rights activist said about Gu in an interview with Fox News, via the New York Post.
‘She was born in America. She was raised in America, lives in America, and chooses to compete against her own country for, literally, the worst human rights abuser on the planet, China.
‘She built her fame in a free country, and then chooses to represent an authoritarian regime.’
Skiing star Eileen Gu has been branded a ‘traitor’ for snubbing USA to compete for China
Ex-NBA player and human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom has accused Gu of choosing to represent ‘the worst human rights abuser on the planet’
By trading her American allegiance for a Chinese bib, Gu has cashed in on a billion-dollar market while being branded a defector by the country that raised her.
Vice President JD Vance became the latest high-profile figure to criticize her earlier this week, saying: ‘Somebody who grew up in the United States of America, who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that make this country a great place, I would hope they would want to compete with the United States of America.
‘So, I will root for American athletes and I think part of that is people who identify themselves as Americans. That’s who I am rooting for this Olympics.’
Gu has never commented publicly on China’s alleged human rights abuses, including accusations of a systematic campaign of repression against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.
‘She chose to play for a country that is literally responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of its own people, and literally running a concentration camp while we’re talking,’ Freedom went on to allege.
He also drew comparisons with LeBron James declining a question about China’s alleged human rights abuses back in 2019.
‘It’s like a play,’ he said. ‘Whenever the human rights issues are raised about China, they all stop talking about it.’
Gu has drawn fierce criticism over her decision, including from Vice President JD Vance
Gu has been physically attacked on her college campus and sent death threats over her decision to snub USA for China, while she is also relentlessly pressed by the media on geopolitics.
‘Things don’t get easier,’ she told The Athletic last week. ‘You just get stronger.’
She added: ‘It’s hard. I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever.’
Gu claimed her fifth career medal Monday night in Livigno, taking silver in the Big Air event to the delight of her adoring Chinese fans, who call her ‘the Snow Princess.’
The medal carried greater weight as it was won on Chinese New Year, a coincidence celebrated widely across Beijing’s state media.
That followed another silver Gu secured on February 9 in the Slopestyle final, where she was narrowly pipped for gold by Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud.
