The athlete with the highest net worth at the Winter Olympics may not be widely recognized, but her financial achievements are notable.
Eileen Gu, an Olympic gold medallist, has been honing her skiing skills for over ten years, beginning at Lake Tahoe where her mother also taught skiing part-time.
At the age of nine, Gu secured her first national championship, and her sports career has been flourishing ever since.
Now 22 years old, Gu has already claimed two gold medals and a silver at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, and recently earned a silver in the freeski slopestyle event this year.
Born to a Chinese mother and an American father, Gu initially represented the United States before switching to China in 2019. She explained her decision to the Times last month, stating: “The U.S. already has the representation. I like building my own pond.”
Gu is reportedly among the wealthiest athletes set to compete in the 2026 Winter Games. But what contributes to her financial success?
Forbes reports that Gu earned $23 million of her $23.1 million 2025 earnings outside of skiing, largely due to numerous endorsements.
She collaborates with notable companies like Red Bull, Porsche, IWC Schaffhausen, TCL Electronics, and various Chinese firms.
Gu has also been featured in marketing campaigns for luxury brands like Tiffany and Louis Vuitton, and graced the covers of the Chinese editions of InStyle, Marie Claire, and Vogue.
As a result, she ranks as the fourth-highest-paid female athlete globally, following tennis stars Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, and Iga Swiatek.
In addition to her sports career, Gu is currently on a break from her studies at Stanford University to compete in the Winter Games—all at the age of 22.
Regarding other wealthy athletes at the Olympics, fellow female Winter Olympian Lindsey Vonn earned $8.2 million last year, which is less than half of Gu’s earnings.
Recently, Gu expressed her views on the current political situation in the US following former President Donald Trump’s critical remarks about freeskier Hunter Hess, after Hess voiced ‘mixed emotions’ about representing the US.
Gu mentioned she had contacted Hess since she had also been ‘caught in the crossfire before’ due to her choice to represent China instead of the US.
“I’m sorry that the headline that is eclipsing the Olympics has to be something so … unrelated to the spirit of the Games,” Gu stated. “It really runs contrary to everything that the Olympics should be.”
“The whole point of sport is to bring people together. One of the very few common languages, that of the human body, that of the human spirit, the competitive spirit, the capacity to break not only records, but especially in our sport, literally the human limit. How wonderful is that?”