Nice piece by Mike Pesca on the cone of silence around Olympic ski celeb Eileen Gu, who was born and raised in the U.S. but is representing China in the games.

I don’t sense that Mike wants her to be raked over the coals, and I don’t either, but it is quite dumb to watch the coverage of her and have to listen to various people take seriously her story that she’s skiing for China because she wants to inspire girls, embrace cultural diversity, blah blah blah.

They’re paying her a shit-ton of money. That’s why she’s skiing for them. Here’s the key graf from Mike:

“Last week, in a welcome change from the fawning coverage elsewhere, TheWall Street Journal described the hidden sources of funding for the American-born star that were accidentally revealed in Chinese-government documents last year: ‘In 2025, the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau was set to pay Gu and another athlete a combined $6.6 million.’ The Journal notes that most of the money went to Gu—not the other unnamed athlete. (She is believed to be figure skater Beverly Zhu.) Gu reportedly received the exact same sum in 2023.”

Gu’s been skiing for China since 2019, so it’s possible she’s made $15 million? $30 million? She’s doing it for the cash. Which is fine, I guess. I don’t expect athletes/celebrities to be self-sacrificing. But maybe a teensy bit less fawning coverage of her?