I started watching the Winter Olympics in the 90's. I was excited when Kristi Yamaguchi won gold in skating but I heard she didn't get a lot of endorsements and many thought it was because of her Japanese heritage. Then I remember waiting on my dial up computer in 1998 to see who won in Nagano and the first headline I saw on NBC was "American beats Kwan!" As an Asian American, it's kinda cool that people actually care now who Eileen Gu plays for. It's also a bit disturbing hearing pundits on some networks call her a traitor.
I agree it was really for the money but I respect her for being fluent in Mandarin. I moved to several countries in Asia in my 20's. I met a lot of Asian Americans who come to their parents' home countries. They can't speak the language and think they can become famous there just because they were born in the U.S. and think they have some unique self-confidence that sets them apart from the locals. Anyway, good for her for getting all those medals and actually learning the language of the country whose giving her all that endorsement money.
