Eileen Gu learns of family tragedy moments after winning gold medal at Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics superstar Eileen Gu has revealed she learned her grandmother died just moments after winning freeski halfpipe gold.

The 22-year-old defended her title with the victory, with her mum on hand for the final in Livigno.

But joy turned to devastation soon after when she was delivered the news she had feared might arrive during the Olympics.

Gu broke down in tears as soon as she began explaining why she was late to her press conference.

“The reason I was late is that I just found out that my grandma passed away,” the champion skier said.

“She was a really big part of my life growing up and someone I looked up to immensely.”

Born, raised and still living in the US, Gu competes for China because of her mother and grandmother.

While clearly devastated Gu immediately spoke on just why she was so inspired by her grandmother — whose name Feng she carries as her middle name.

“She was such a strong (person), she was a fighter. I think what’s interesting is a lot of people just cruise through life, but she was a steamship,” Gu said.

“This woman commanded life and she grabbed it by the reins and she made it into what she wanted it to be. She inspired me so much.

“The last time I saw her before I came to the Olympics she was very sick, so I knew this was a possibility.

“I didn’t promise her that I was going to win but I did promise her that I was going to be brave like she has been brave.

“And that’s why I keep referring to this theme of betting on myself and being brave and taking risks. It actually goes back to that promise that I made my grandma.

“I’m really happy that I was able to uphold that and hopefully do her proud but it’s also a really difficult time for me now, so I really apologise for being late but that’s what was going on. Sorry.”

Gu’s gold was her first of Milano-Cortina 2026 after two silvers and maintained her perfect medal record across six events since her debut at Beijing 2022.

She was the only woman willing to divide her attention between halfpipe, slopestyle and big air.

It was a quest that limited her training, rest and sometimes her sanity. Never her confidence, though.

“I’m not a gambling woman, but if I were, I took a pretty big bet on myself,” Gu said.

“There was a chance everything could go wrong and I could have walked away with nothing, because I was trying to do too much. But in my head, even if everything crashes and burns, I tried. I’ll never regret trying.”

The risk of doing too much once again reared its head on the first run of this bluebird day in Livigno — the halfpipe bathed one half in sun, the other in shade a day after a snowstorm postponed the final.

Gu lost balance on the landing of her very first jump of the contest, forcing her to abandon the run toward the top of the pipe.

Each of her qualifying rounds at these Olympics involved a fall and a must-make return that she landed every time just to get to the final.

In halfpipe, largely viewed as the premier event in the sport and also the event where Gu has won 15 of her 20 World Cup titles, the odds of Gu not landing any of her three runs in the final seemed slim. In fact, it was none.

She ended up with not just the best score of the 32 runs by 11 athletes, but the best two scores of them all. Her second run was a 94 and her last was a 94.75.

Li Fanghui made it a first 1-2 for China in the event and admitted that while she “tried for gold” Gu’s presence meant her “first goal was for silver”.

Gu won because she flies higher than almost everyone (except for bronze medallist Zoe Atkin), does more rotations than anyone (highlighted by two 900-degree spins in opposite directions) and, in a key separator in a 1.75-point win over Li, tried one more trick than her Chinese teammate (Gu and most skiers did six, Li only tried five).

- with AP