China’s Olympic champion skier Eileen Gu is facing criticism online after videos emerged of her dancing intimately with a French swimmer accused of disrespecting a Chinese sports coach. The video, which surfaced as the Paris Olympics came to a close, shows Gu interacting intimately with Games swimming champion Leon Marchand in a Paris nightclub. At one point, Gu can be seen holding an Olympic gold medal while making a kissing gesture, leading to speculation that the medal belonged to Marchand and that the pair are romantically linked.
Gu won two golds and a silver medal for skiing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics while Marchand clinched four golds and a bronze in Paris. This made the Frenchman the first swimmer since US legend Michael Phelps to win four individual golds at a single Olympics. The controversy has its roots in an incident after Marchand won the 200m individual medley on August 2.
The French swimmer faced criticism from Chinese netizens for being “arrogant and disrespectful” after he appeared to ignore a handshake request from Zhu Zhigen, coach of the Chinese bronze medalist Wang Shun. Although Marchand apologised, claiming he was unaware of the coach’s gesture, thinking he was trying to help with a lane rope, discontent continued. This extended to Gu when it was revealed that she had frequently interacted with Marchand on Instagram during the Olympics.
Gu deleted the interactions after Marchand became the subject of controversy which prompted a mixed .