Many high-achieving athletes competed in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22, but two of them, skier Eileen Gu and figure skater Alysa Liu, surfaced with Olympic medals.

Born in San Francisco, Gu started skiing at the age of three, joined the Northstar California Resort free-ski team at eight and won her first national championship at nine. Gu was admitted early into Stanford University as an International Relations major and took an academic leave for the 2025-2026 year to prepare for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The two-time reigning world champion previously competed in the World Championships in 2021, in which she became the first woman skier to land a forward double cork 1440 at age 18. During the Winter Olympics, Gu emerged with two silver medals in women’s big air and slopestyle and one gold medal in women’s freeski halfpipe. As of today, Gu stands as the most decorated skier, man or woman, in history.

Shortly after the competition, Gu was in tears at her news conference podium after having learned of her grandmother’s death, to whom she dedicated her gold medal. 

“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,” Gu said. “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.”

Alysa Liu, born in Clovis and raised in Richmond, California, began skating at five and began competing at a national level by age seven. She went on to earn the intermediate gold medal in the 2016 U.S. Championships at age 10, becoming the youngest female skater to do so.

After a dozen competitions and achievements, including being the youngest athlete named to the American Olympic team, Liu announced her early retirement on Instagram, stating that she fulfilled her goals and career and was ready to move on with her life. Later going into more detail, she expanded, “I was so into skating that I really didn’t do much else. There were many, many times when I didn’t enjoy it.”

On March 1, 2024, the skater announced her comeback on Instagram, inspired by her ski trip at the beginning of the year. After competing in various competitions, including the 2024 CS Budapest Trophy, in which she won the gold medal, Liu’s first-place victory at the 2026 Winter Olympics made her the first American woman to win an Olympic gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002.

Both Gu and Liu made decisions for themselves, with the Olympic skier becoming a controversial figure after her decision to compete for China, her mother’s birthplace, despite being born and raised in San Francisco, and the Olympic figure skater coming back from early retirement in 2024 to compete for personal fulfillment rather than recognition or medals. 

While both Chinese-American and California-born stars have been compared online due to their choices of nationality, Eileen Gu and Alysa Liu serve as powerful examples of the potential one has when competing and playing on their own terms, not anyone else’s.