Alysa Liu, a former Team USA figure skating champion, defended Eileen Gu, an American-born snowboarding sensation, who chose to represent China at the past two Winter Olympics. Gu had previously received criticism for her decision to represent her country at the Milan Cortina Games. Liu, who won the first gold medal for Team USA in women’s figure skating in two decades, argued that Gu’m not the only athlete representing China, but her mother, Yan Gu, came to the U.S. to earn a master's degree and studied chemistry and biochemistry at Peking University before raising Gu as a single parent. Gu has six career Olympic medals and has asked for a change of nation in 2019.