When American-born athlete Eileen Gu, who competed for China, soared to victory in women's freestyle skiing at Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese social media were instantly flooded with praise for her.
But what has won the Stanford freshman accolades on Chinese social media had done quite the opposite on Twitter.
On Monday night, the 18-year-old freestyle skier from California became the youngest Olympic star after successfully executing a trick she had never attempted before in the final run: a double cork 1620, involving four-and-a-half rotations in the air.
Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter (Twitter is banned in China), said its servers were overwhelmed with praise for Gu, a fashion model and freshman at Stanford.
Meanwhile, Gu's Sino Weibo official account has reached 4.028 million followers.
Souhu, a Chinese state-run online media, reported that Gu has successfully landed at least 20 brand sponsorships, bringing at least US $30 million for her within a year.
"Billboards featuring Gu are all over the place - you can see her ads on subways, buses, airports, supermarkets and big shopping malls… But that's just the beginning for her. This young star's income will continue to soar even after the Olympics Games ends," reads the article from Souhu.
Back on Twitter, the reaction to Gu’s success was radically different.
"I hope Eileen Gu likes living in China. What a traitor. Born in San Francisco, CA and competes for Chinese money. Get out," reads one of the most popular tweets.
While others chided the national squabbling.
“Pretty sad watching people in the US and China squabbling over the nationality of Gold medalist Eileen Gu. Sports should transcend such petty concerns,” read another trending Tweet.
As many people criticized her motives for competing for China, Gu addressed the media by saying: "Here is the thing - I am not trying to keep anyone happy. I'm an 18-year-old girl living my best life. I'm having a great time. It doesn't really matter if other people are happy or not."
Her comments were immediately translated into Chinese and became one of the most searched topics on Sina Weibo again, with many Chinese netizens saying her response to Western media "couldn't be more perfect."
Numerous Chinese media outlets are praising Gu for giving up her U.S. citizenship in order to compete for China, but Gu has never confirmed publically whether she has, in fact, given up her American citizenship.
“Gu was asked at least six times whether she still holds U.S. citizenship. She talked about the support she has received from both countries, about how she feels Chinese when in China and American when in the United States, and never answered the question,” read one tweet posted by New York Times reporter Sui-Lee Wee.
China doesn’t allow dual citizenship and an athlete has to hold a passport for the country they represent at the Olympics.
The News also browsed through Gu's Instagram handle and found she has been working as an influencer for various luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton and Tiffany.
