The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - Printable Version
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RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - BostonCard - 02-13-2026
Some more grist for the mill, I suppose…
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr07r0vengo
I do wonder a bit what the effect of her parents divorce had on her feelings about China vs. the US. She was raised by her Chinese mother, and frequently went back to see her Chinese family, but there is no mention of her father or his family. It is easier to feel a connection to your parent’s homeland under those circumstances than those of Lou’s (whose father was a political activist and fled China after Tiennnenmen). I’m not saying it is right, but I can see how she might have some genuine affection for China.
And, of course, the Hess controversy cuts both ways. On the one hand, I am glad our athletes can be critical of the United States in a way that Chinese athletes never could be critical of their own country. On the other hand, some of the blowback he’s faced, even if it isn’t legal, means that there is a chilling effect towards criticizing your own country that is not unique to China. In its aftermath, many of the athletes who stood in Hess’ defense prefaced their comments with “I’m proud to represent the US, but…”
I posted four years ago that I thought it was disappointing that she couldn’t even bring herself to say something minimally critical about China, but that was more a commentary on China and the CCP than on Gu.
BC
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - cardcrimson - 02-13-2026
Hard to believe that four years and apparently a massive sea change ago, Gu was resoundingly held in contempt by most here, and those who supported her were castigated. What, now only a smidgen of contempt for Gu? And no hatred from the masses here for Beth Atkin, who was born in the US and is skiing for Great Britain? Puzzling. . . .
https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-22916.html?highlight=eileen+gu
FWIW, I hope the two remaining Stanford women do great. . . . .
Hieronymus - Hieronymus - 02-15-2026
I guess coming from a soccer background where players change nationalities regularly, I couldn’t ever get that worked up about Gu.
Think this gets close for me: https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/article/eileen-gu-may-compete-for-china-but-the-only-entity-she-truly-represents-is-eileen-gu-inc-181741632.html
And what would you do for millions? https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/article/winter-olympics-2026-china-reportedly-paid-us-born-athletes-including-eileen-gu-nearly-14-million-125710970.html
Doesn’t mean I really cheer for Gu, but it’s not worth thinking on very much either in my view.
RE: Hieronymus - 82lsju - 02-15-2026
(02-15-2026, 12:35 PM)Hieronymus Wrote: I guess coming from a soccer background where players change nationalities regularly, I couldn’t ever get that worked up about Gu.
Think this gets close for me: https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/article/eileen-gu-may-compete-for-china-but-the-only-entity-she-truly-represents-is-eileen-gu-inc-181741632.html
And what would you do for millions? https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/article/winter-olympics-2026-china-reportedly-paid-us-born-athletes-including-eileen-gu-nearly-14-million-125710970.html
Doesn’t mean I really cheer for Gu, but it’s not worth thinking on very much either in my view.
more or less "NIL" for countries instead of colleges.....
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - fullmetal - 02-15-2026
(02-13-2026, 09:41 PM)cardcrimson Wrote: Hard to believe that four years and apparently a massive sea change ago, Gu was resoundingly held in contempt by most here, and those who supported her were castigated. What, now only a smidgen of contempt for Gu? And no hatred from the masses here for Beth Atkin, who was born in the US and is skiing for Great Britain? Puzzling. . . .
https://thecardboard.org/board/thread-22916.html?highlight=eileen+gu
FWIW, I hope the two remaining Stanford women do great. . . . .
My feelings haven't changed, but there's way too much bad stuff going on in the world now to be concerned with Winter Olympic fealty.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - dabigv13 - 02-15-2026
Thank you to cardcrimson for linking the thread we had about this the last Olympics, where I think we hashed this all out pretty well. Some good posts in there.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - Mick - 02-16-2026
(02-13-2026, 08:05 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I posted four years ago that I thought it was disappointing that she couldn’t even bring herself to say something minimally critical about China, but that was more a commentary on China and the CCP than on Gu.
BC
She doesn't criticize China or the CCP for the same reason that Steve Kerr doesn't criticize China or the CCP. China/CCP butter their bread.
I'm going to assume that Gu gave up her American citizenship given that China doesn't allow dual citizenship, per the article.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - ca245 - 02-16-2026
Interesting that almost all the articles about Gu mention that she is a Stanford student. I got to imagine she is not the only US Olympian who goes to college, but their schools are rarely mentioned.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - M T - 02-16-2026
(02-16-2026, 01:06 PM)ca245 Wrote: Interesting that almost all the articles about Gu mention that she is a Stanford student. I got to imagine she is not the only US Olympian who goes to college, but their schools are rarely mentioned.(Restricting to Winter Olympics. Examples abound in Summer Olympics)
Certainly in US Women's ice hockey, the schools are mentioned a lot, but then those athletes compete for their school teams. I believe that is the only NCAA sport in the Winter Olympics.
However, it also seems it may be the case that a lot of the Winter Olympians may not have attended college. I was clicking through a site with the bios of the US skiing & snowboarding team and many of them did not list a school. If they are pursuing the sport professionally, they probably can't attend school during the winter months.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - BostonCard - 02-16-2026
Skiing is an NcAA sport.
https://www.ncaa.com/sports/skiing
Not surprisingly, it has been dominated by Utah and Colorado in recent years and historically also Denver, Vermont, and occasionally Wyoming and Dartmouth.
BC
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - JJJ - 02-16-2026
I don’t know how much press Debi Thomas/Stanford got back in the day (pre-internet).
Here’s one:
1986 SI article on Thomas
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - 82lsju - 02-16-2026
(02-16-2026, 05:10 PM)JJJ Wrote: I don’t know how much press Debi Thomas/Stanford got back in the day (pre-internet).
local some, I do recall she practiced at a rink in I think Belmont.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - cctop - 02-16-2026
(02-16-2026, 05:10 PM)JJJ Wrote: I don’t know how much press Debi Thomas/Stanford got back in the day (pre-internet).
Here’s one:
1986 SI article on Thomas
I was an undergrad during the 1988 winter Olympics.
On campus Debi Thomas was a big deal. I don't recall much mention of Stanford in the general media coverage of her though. The storyline was more Debi Thomas vs. Katarina Witt back when East Germany was still behind the Iron Curtain.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - Papa John - 02-16-2026
Eric Heiden was the second-biggest-deal, after the US men's hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. But I'm not sure if he was yet a Stanford student. He didn't skate in any Olympics after that as far as I know.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - 82lsju - 02-16-2026
(02-16-2026, 09:18 PM)Papa John Wrote: Eric Heiden was the second-biggest-deal, after the US men's hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. But I'm not sure if he was yet a Stanford student. He didn't skate in any Olympics after that as far as I know.
alumni database says he got a BS in '84 (after transferring from Wisconsin (go transfers)) and an MD in '91
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - cctop - 02-16-2026
(02-16-2026, 09:18 PM)Papa John Wrote: Eric Heiden was the second-biggest-deal, after the US men's hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. But I'm not sure if he was yet a Stanford student. He didn't skate in any Olympics after that as far as I know.
Heiden transferred to Stanford after the Olympics. When I was there in the late 1980's he was a med student and riding with the Stanford cycling club. My drawmate played (and lost) against him in IM's.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - Papa John - 02-16-2026
(02-16-2026, 09:57 PM)cctop Wrote:(02-16-2026, 09:18 PM)Papa John Wrote: Eric Heiden was the second-biggest-deal, after the US men's hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. But I'm not sure if he was yet a Stanford student. He didn't skate in any Olympics after that as far as I know.
Heiden transferred to Stanford after the Olympics. When I was there in the late 1980's he was a med student and riding with the Stanford cycling club. My drawmate played (and lost) against him in IM's.
Thanks for clarifying, cctop. I guess that means that Eric Heiden doesn't make the list of Stanford Winter Olympians. His loss ;-)
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - PalmTree - 02-17-2026
(02-16-2026, 10:27 PM)Papa John Wrote:(02-16-2026, 09:57 PM)cctop Wrote:(02-16-2026, 09:18 PM)Papa John Wrote: Eric Heiden was the second-biggest-deal, after the US men's hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. But I'm not sure if he was yet a Stanford student. He didn't skate in any Olympics after that as far as I know.
Heiden transferred to Stanford after the Olympics. When I was there in the late 1980's he was a med student and riding with the Stanford cycling club. My drawmate played (and lost) against him in IM's.
Thanks for clarifying, cctop. I guess that means that Eric Heiden doesn't make the list of Stanford Winter Olympians. His loss ;-)
Yeah, guess not - here's "The List" at GoStanford.
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - 82lsju - 02-17-2026
(02-17-2026, 06:09 AM)PalmTree Wrote:(02-16-2026, 10:27 PM)Papa John Wrote:(02-16-2026, 09:57 PM)cctop Wrote:(02-16-2026, 09:18 PM)Papa John Wrote: Eric Heiden was the second-biggest-deal, after the US men's hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. But I'm not sure if he was yet a Stanford student. He didn't skate in any Olympics after that as far as I know.
Heiden transferred to Stanford after the Olympics. When I was there in the late 1980's he was a med student and riding with the Stanford cycling club. My drawmate played (and lost) against him in IM's.
Thanks for clarifying, cctop. I guess that means that Eric Heiden doesn't make the list of Stanford Winter Olympians. His loss ;-)
Yeah, guess not - here's "The List" at GoStanford.
"The List" only includes the summer olympics so also does not include Debi Thomas
RE: The Winter Olympics with 4 Stanford students - PalmTree - 02-17-2026
(02-17-2026, 08:33 AM)82lsju Wrote:(02-17-2026, 06:09 AM)PalmTree Wrote:(02-16-2026, 10:27 PM)Papa John Wrote:(02-16-2026, 09:57 PM)cctop Wrote:(02-16-2026, 09:18 PM)Papa John Wrote: Eric Heiden was the second-biggest-deal, after the US men's hockey team, at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. But I'm not sure if he was yet a Stanford student. He didn't skate in any Olympics after that as far as I know.
Heiden transferred to Stanford after the Olympics. When I was there in the late 1980's he was a med student and riding with the Stanford cycling club. My drawmate played (and lost) against him in IM's.
Thanks for clarifying, cctop. I guess that means that Eric Heiden doesn't make the list of Stanford Winter Olympians. His loss ;-)
Yeah, guess not - here's "The List" at GoStanford.
"The List" only includes the summer olympics so also does not include Debi Thomas
DOH I'd forgotten about Thomas - and Gu for that matter!