Eileen Gu, the freestyle skiing champion at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has recently become a hot topic on the Chinese internet since her contract with the Chinese team has expired. Gu’s contract renewal is put on hold due to ongoing corruption investigations in Chinese sports.
Hu Guangyu, the former deputy director of China’s General Administration of Sports, has been under investigation since January. Hu was previously in charge of helping Gu to naturalize as a Chinese citizen in order to play on the Chinese team.
Rampant Corruption in Sports
The Chinese national soccer team is rife with corruption. Since the former head coach of the team, Li Tie, was under investigation last November, more than 10 officials have been investigated by China’s top disciplinary watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). In an article published on April 8, the CCDI acknowledged the existence of systemic corruption in soccer and said that similar problems exist in other fields as well.Gu’s Citizenship Comes Under Scrutiny Again
Since China does not recognize dual citizenship, Gu’s status as a naturalized Chinese athlete during the Beijing Winter Olympics sparked controversy.After the Olympic Games, Gu spent most of her time in the United States and only recently returned to China for less than a week to attend a business event. In addition, Gu became an ambassador for Salt Lake City’s bid to host the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics. Thus, Gu has been under scrutiny in China since many believe she has resumed being American.
According to Chinese media Sina News, Gu naturalized as a Chinese citizen in 2019. However, as to whether she renounced or retained her U.S. citizenship, she has avoided giving a direct answer. Her response to reporters on the citizenship issue after winning the Winter Olympics gold medal last year was: “I definitely feel as American as I do Chinese. When I’m in America, I’m American, and when I’m in China, I’m Chinese.” Furthermore, she said that sports do not need to be linked to citizenship.
According to Article 41 of the Olympic Charter, any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the National Olympic Committee that is entering such a competitor. A competitor who is a national of two or more countries simultaneously may represent either of them.
Beijing Throws Lots of Money Into Sports
According to a May 2 article on the Chinese News portal Sohu, Gu has become the darling of major brands and businesses after becoming an Olympic champion and was ranked third in the world in the 2023 Forbes “World’s Highest Paid Female Athletes 2022.”Sohu also reported that she would continue to represent China in the Olympics, but it is still uncertain what kind of contract the national team will offer Gu.
The CCP spent vast amounts of money to attract foreign athletes to naturalize as Chinese citizens to represent China in the global sports arena. The Guangzhou soccer team alone spent 2 billion yuan (about $290 million) to naturalize foreign players like Elkeson and Aloísio, and Ricardo Goulart cost 800 million yuan (about $180 million) to naturalize. However, due to the sudden changes in FIFA’s rules in recent years, Goulart was not eligible to play for the Chinese national team.
In response, independent writer Zhuge Mingyang told The Epoch Times on May 4: “Eileen Gu is a success. The CCP can spend as much money as it wants as long as it can improve the regime’s image. Such wasteful expenditure was at the expense of the Chinese people. Such erratic expenditure in sports was destinated to be plagued by corruption.”
