Richest athlete at Winter Olympics is just 22 and a name you've probably never heard of

The richest athlete at the Winter Olympics might not be someone you’re familiar with, but her portfolio is impressive.

Olympic gold medallist Eileen Gu has been training for over a decade, first taking up skiing at Lake Tahoe, where her mother was also a part-time ski instructor.

At nine years old, she then went on to win her first national championship, and her sports career has been on the up since then.

The 22-year-old has already won gold twice and a silver at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, before being granted a silver in this year’s freeski slopestyle event.

Born to a Chinese mother and an American father, Gu originally represented the US for some time before switching to China in 2019, telling the Times last month: "The U.S. already has the representation. I like building my own pond."

And Gu is said to be one of the wealthiest athletes attending the 2026 Winter Games. But why is she so wealthy?

Eileen Gu has been skiing for over a decade (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

According to Forbes, Gu earned $23 million of her $23.1m 2025 earnings outside the slopes, mainly from the number of endorsements she has.

On top of that, she works with major companies such as Red Bull, Porsche, IWC Schaffhausen, TCL Electronics, and other Chinese companies.

Gu also appeared in marketing campaigns for brands like Tiffany and Louis Vuitton, and went on to appear on the covers of the Chinese editions of InStyle, Marie Claire, and Vogue.

Thanks to this, she became the fourth-highest-paid female athlete in the world, behind tennis players Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, and Iga Swiatek.

She’s also currently on pause from her Stanford University studies to participate in the Winter Games - all at 22.

As for the other rich athletes at the Olympics, female Winter Olympian Lindsey Vonn earned $8.2m last year, which is less than half of Gu’s earnings.

Gu has done a lot of endorsements outside her skiing career (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Recently, Gu shared her thoughts on the current political climate in the US, following President Donald Trump's scathing message about freeskier Hunter Hess after Hess expressed 'mixed emotions' about representing the US.

Gu said she'd been in touch with Hess, as she had been 'caught in the crossfire before' following her decision to represent China instead of the US.

“I’m sorry that the headline that is eclipsing the Olympics has to be something so ... unrelated to the spirit of the Games,” she said. “It really runs contrary to everything that the Olympics should be.

“The whole point of sport is to bring people together. One of the very few common languages, that of the human body, that of the human spirit, the competitive spirit, the capacity to break not only records, but especially in our sport, literally the human limit. How wonderful is that?”