Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Eileen Gu has a record-breaking five medals to her name, and she is not entertaining stupid questions about them. On Monday, the breakout freestyle skier secured her second silver medal in Milan, becoming the most decorated female freestyle skier in Olympic history. Following the freeski slopestyle competition, the 22-year-old attended a press conference, where a journalist asked if she regarded her new hardware as “two silvers gained or two golds lost.” In a now-viral clip, Gu responded, appropriately, by laughing in his face.
“I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that’s an answer in and of itself,” she said. “How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every athlete. Doing it five times is exponentially harder.”
“The two-medals-lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think is kind of a ridiculous perspective to take. I’m showcasing my best skiing,” she went on. “I’m doing things that quite literally have never been done before, and so I think that is more than good enough, but thank you.”
Well, she absolutely schooled him. As a reminder to that guy, Gu’s five medals include two golds in big air and halfpipe and a silver in slopestyle during the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, where she made history as the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Games. At just 18 years old, she also became the youngest Olympic freestyle-skiing champion and the first woman to land a forward double cork 1440.
“I love this sport now more than ever,” Gu said. “The feeling of pushing past who I was yesterday and becoming a little bit better tomorrow is something that is truly addictive and something that I’m so in love with.”
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