Eileen Gu released a statement on social media Monday, reflecting on her controversial decision to compete for Team China despite being born and raised in the U.S. 

Gu’s statement tied the decision back to her passion for promoting women’s sports, and encouraging young girls to pursue sports. 

“I gave my first speech on 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 attending an all-girls’ school from Monday through Friday, becoming best friends with my teammates on the weekends through the common language of sport,” Gu wrote on Instagram. 

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“At the same time, I was made painfully aware of the lack of representation – at age 9, I felt that I was somehow representing all women every time I stepped in the terrain park. Landing tricks was about more than progression … it was about disproving the derisive implication of what it meant to ‘ski like a girl.'”

Gu went on to express gratitude for the one season in which she did compete for the U.S. 

“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China. At the 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 setting up summer camps on trampoline and dry slope for kids and adults, ranging from 7 to 47 years old, so I knew the industry was tiny. I felt like I knew everyone,” she added. 

“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport, 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 concluded by acknowledging that certain people “don’t understand” her decision to compete for China over the U.S., while insisting the choice maximized the impact she would 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. 

“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create 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 was once a dream is now a reality.”

Gu has become a target for global criticism this Olympics for her decision to represent China while remaining silent on the country’s alleged human rights abuses.

In an interview with Time magazine, Gu was asked her thoughts on China’s alleged persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. 

“I haven’t done the research. I don’t think it’s my business. I’m not going to make big claims on my social media,” Gu answered.

“I’m just more of a skeptic when it comes to data in general. … So, it’s not like I can read an article and be like, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.’ I need to have a ton of evidence. I need to maybe go to the place, maybe talk to 10 primary source people who are in a location and have experienced life there.

“Then I need to go see images. I need to listen to recordings. I need to think about how history affects it. Then I need to read books on how politics affects it. This is a lifelong search. It’s irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece for any agenda.”

More controversy surrounding Gu erupted after The Wall Street Journal reported that Gu and another American-born athlete who now competes for China, were paid a combined $6.6 million by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in 2025.

Gu is the highest-paid Winter Olympics athlete in the world, making an estimated $23 million in 2025 alone due to partnerships with Chinese companies, including the Bank of China and western companies. 

Her alignment with China prompted criticism from many Americans this Olympics, including Vice President J.D. Vance. 

“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”

Later, when Gu was asked if she feels “like a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment,” she said she does. 

“I do,” she said. “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. So, it’s not really about what they think it’s about.

“And, also, because I win. Like, if I wasn’t doing well, I think that they probably wouldn’t care as much, and that’s OK for me. People are entitled to their opinions.”

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Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China attends the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026.  (Hongxiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Gu has claimed she was “physically assaulted” for the decision.  

“The police were called. I’ve had death threats. I’ve had my dorm robbed,” Gu told The Athletic. 

“I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever.”

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AMES, Iowa — Iowa State is ending its women’s gymnastics program.

The decision, announced by athletic director Jamie Pollard on Tuesday, comes not long after the school canceled the remainder of its 2026 season because of what Pollard described as “unresolvable” issues between players, coaches and parents.

Pollard said the school will replace gymnastics with another women’s sport that “provides equal or additional participation opportunities” for female athletes.

The school will honor the scholarships of current or incoming gymnasts who opt to remain at the university, including making sure they will continue to have access to all departmental services available to Iowa State student-athletes. Pollard added that the athletic department will also help any gymnast who chooses to go into the transfer portal.

Members of the coaching staff, including head coach Ashley Miles Greig, will not have their contracts renewed.

Pollard called the move “the right decision for our athletics program and our student athletes,” citing a pattern of issues within the program over the past decade.

Women’s gymnastics underwent a “complete review” in 2018 because of various issues. In 2023, the university hired a Minnesota-based law firm to do an independent evaluation of the program, leading to sweeping changes that included implementing a new coaching staff.

When similar issues cropped up three years later, Iowa State initially opted to cancel the remainder of the season because Pollard said “the student-athletes felt the conflicts were so problematic” they could not continue.

A leadership council within the university spent weeks talking to various stakeholders around the program before recommending women’s gymnastics be discontinued.

“The student-athlete experience is at the core of what our department takes great pride in,” Pollard said. “Our continued inability by our department to provide our women’s gymnastics team members [a positive] experience … is disappointing and very concerning.”

Pollard said finances did not play a role in the decision, adding that whatever sport the Cyclones eventually add could be just as expensive, if not more expensive, to field.

Iowa State won four conference titles in women’s gymnastics, the last in 2006.

Bruce Pearl said President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have his full unconditional support in their war against Iran. 

“They do have my support and my prayers, and I’m grateful for their courage,” the legendary former Auburn men’s basketball coach and Chair of the U.S. Israel Education Association told Fox News Digital. 

As the U.S. and Israeli continue to carry out a joint military operation against Iran after eliminating the ayatollah, Pearl admits he does have anxiety about what comes next, especially as it relates to potential American and Israeli causalities. 

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Pearl has multiple friends and family members in Israel as Iran carries out its counter-attack, and six American service members have already been confirmed killed since the violence started. 

Pearl placed blame on former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for agreeing to deals that resulted in finances going to Iran over the last decade plus.

“I think President Obama was well-intentioned, but his decision was costly and wrong,” Pearl said. “He funded the terrorists who rebuilt Hezbollah, who rebuilt Hamas, who rebuilt the Houthis. The United States government is responsible in part for funding Iran’s war and terror.

“President Trump doesn’t want war, but he’s also not going to look the other way and let Iran terrorize the Middle East, which they did. And, so, then what does President Biden do? He comes in and he reverses all the policies that President Trump enacted, and he goes back to refunding Iran and treating them like a normal country. And all they did was refund the terrorist, rebuild their weapons.” 

The Obama administration transferred $1.7 billion in cash to Iran in 2016 to settle a 1979 arms dispute, while the Biden administration released $10 billion to $16 billion in frozen Iranian oil funds as part of a 2023 prisoner swap and humanitarian trade. The funds were Iranian assets frozen abroad but not known to be U.S. taxpayer funds.

Pearl told Fox News Digital he is angered by the Iranian aggression against America in recent decades. 

“Iran is the greatest enemy to the world since Adolf Hitler. They have been this country’s No. 1 enemy since 1979. They have killed more Americans than any other country in the world. So, what I would say to America, we didn’t start this war. Iran has declared war on us for a long, long time, and they’ve been killing our citizens,” Pearl said.  

“They sponsored, funded and gave the green light to Hamas to commit the atrocities of Oct. 7. And 46 Americans died. Innocent Americans died that way at the hands of Hamas, who was part of Iran’s proxies. That angers me. That angers me as an American. And I’m glad that this president is doing something about it.”

Pearl, the chairman of the U.S. Israel Education Association, recalled having to witness the deaths of people he was close to due to violence in the Middle East. 

“I know hostage families who have lost their lives. I know Israeli friends who have lost sons and daughters. I’ve known Americans who’ve lost family members in Lebanon in 1982, in the barracks, and also in fighting the wars in Iraq,” he said. 

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Pearl said, he has encountered anti-Israel protesters in America.

The pro-Palestine movement in the United States has evolved into one of the country’s largest and most sustained protest waves sparked by a foreign event in modern history. 

Within just two weeks of the initial Oct. 7 attack, the movement rapidly expanded from early vigils to 420 rallies across 46 states, according to the Harvard University Ash Center. By November of that year, the burst of activity had solidified into a sustained national wave broader than any previous pro-Palestine movement in U.S. history, particularly on college campuses. 

Now, as America and Israel wage war on Iran, which could potentially fan the flames of the pro-Palestinian movement in the U.S., Pearl has a message for those protesters.

“If you want to protest, have an understanding what you’re protesting for. I ask you the question. Are women free in Israel or are they free inside of Gaza? Do they in Israel, do they get to go to education, college, school, live a normal, incredible life like any other human being, or are they subject to Sharia law? How can you protest for that? You want to protest? Protest for the Iranian people who are fighting for their freedom,” Pearl said. 

“How is it possible that on Oct. 8, 9 or 10, just days after 46 Americans were murdered and 1,200 people were killed and 250 were held hostage, how is it possible that college students were protesting to free Palestine from the river to the sea and supporting Hamas? The free Palestine from the river to the sea is to free Palestine of the Jews from the river to the sea. That means either kill us or remove us.”

Many Americans have been trapped in Israel since the counterstrikes began. This includes at least three American women’s basketball players.

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South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley has led a public effort to bring them home. 

Pearl, who admitted he hasn’t heard about those players’ situations, said “when the airspace is safe, they’ll be able to go home.”

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