Eileen Gu may have come back with three Olympic medals, but her journey was far from a bed of roses. In an interview after the victory in the women’s halfpipe event, the freestyle skier explained her struggles, including her mental health issues, during the entire journey. Gu won two silver medals in slopestyle and big air. She defended her title from the halfpipe event that she had won previously at the 2022 Winter Olympics held in Beijing.
Eileen Gu Shares Her Mental Condition Before the Winter Olympics 2026
The official CGTN News handle on X [formerly Twitter] shared a clip of Gu conversing with journalists after her impressive victory in the halfpipe event. When asked about the mental state during the journey to the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, she replied,
“I think my answer here is twofold. One is about showing vulnerability. I’ve always thought that being the best is making things look easy. You are excellent. And it seems as though you kind of just cruised through life. Of course, she won another gold medal. She won 20 already. But I think with vulnerability, there’s so much more power in that, because it empowers other people to feel as though they can undertake the journey, too.
Gu added that she isn’t interested in parading her medals or standing on stage to declare herself the greatest. Instead, the Olympic champion emphasized that her real goal is to inspire others, saying that if she can achieve it, then anyone else can too.
The Chinese skier also revealed that she had suffered a concussion due to her injuries in 2025. In her words,
“Like, I really struggled. I had a lot of mental health issues after the last Olympics. I dealt with severe injury a year ago. I had a concussion in January of 2025. I had seizures after, and people were worried If I was going to wake up. Like, that’s a real terrifying experience to go through.”
Eileen Gu made the world take notice at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, when she won two gold medals in big air and halfpipe, and a silver medal in slopestyle. The world champion made a smashing Olympic debut at the Beijing Winter Olympics, repeating the performance.
She also has three World Championship medals, including two gold. All of these medals were won at the 2021 edition in Aspen, one of the four cities to have hosted the World Championships alongside Almaty, Idre, and Rogla.
