Eileen Gu Celebrates History-Making Olympic Achievement at Milan Cortina Games

The 22-year-old currently has five Olympic medals—the most of any women’s freestyle skier ever—following her Big Air podium appearance on Monday, Feb. 16.

Eileen Gu / Andy Cheung/Getty Images

Eileen Gu is leaving the Milan Cortina Games with a spot in the record books. After securing a silver medal at the Big Air finals on Monday, Feb. 16—trailing Canada’s Megan Oldham’s 108.75 score by just 1.75 points—the 22-year-old San Francisco native was declared “the most decorated women’s freestyle skiing Olympian” by The Olympic Games shortly after.

To celebrate, the athlete, who represents the People’s Republic of China, took to Instagram to express her gratitude over her latest accomplishment. “Most Olympic medals in freeski history. Thank you @olympics🤍,” Gu wrote alongside a four-slide carousel consisting of snaps from Livigno Snow Park.

Past and present Olympians shared their own excitement underneath the athlete’s post.

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“Thank YOU! Congratulations, Eileen! 🤩,” the official Olympics Instagram account penned.

“Major major major,” U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim wrote. The 25-year-old, who notched a gold medal in PyeongChang (2018) and in Beijing (2022), added a silver medal to her collection following her Women's Halfpipe appearance on Thursday, Feb. 12.

“Such great work! Amazing Eileen 🔥,” Birk Ruud chimed in. The freestyle skier from Norway has two gold medals of his own.

“Clutch af, as usual!!! Unreal, congrats queen 👑” fellow freestyle skier Darian Stevens added.

“Lfg, so good!! 🙌,” skateboarder Keet Oldenbeuving celebrated.

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Gu could score yet another piece of hardware before the Milan Cortina Games come to a close on Sunday, Feb. 22. She will be back in action later this week for a pair of qualifying runs for the Women's Freeski Halfpipe on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Gu is also plenty familiar with the event, as she is its reigning gold medal winner. In 2022, she edged out Canada’s Cassie Sharpe and Rachael Karker for the first-place spot on the podium in Beijing.

On her second-ever Olympic appearance—and just days before earning the historic title—Gu said perThe Athletic, “I’m not here because I have to be ... If I wanted to sit back and do nothing, theoretically, I could. But I’m here, 100 percent of me, because I want to be. I’m here because I love this, because this is what I was born to do.”

The athlete continued, “I’m here because this is the greatest privilege on earth, and because it’s the greatest show on earth, and because I want to represent women’s skiing and bring it to more people.”

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