SO BRAVE: ESPN Gives ‘Best Breakthrough Athlete’ Award to Skier Who Renounced U.S.

This is a breakthrough?

Eileen Gu, the Olympic skier who grew up in San Francisco, currently attends Stanford —and renounced her citizenship to ski for China, received the “Breakthrough Athlete of the Year” award from ESPN.

From The New York Post:

The decision to present Gu with the award sparked outrage on social media. The other nominees were Ja Morant, Jonathan Taylor and Trinity Rodman, Dennis Rodman’s daughter who stars in the NWSL.

“Eileen Gu wins ESPY’s first Benedict Arnold Award,” tweeted Baylor University philosophy professor Francis Beckwith. 

Wrote the conservative website the Daily Caller: “ESPN just gave an ESPY for “Breakout Athlete” to Eileen Gu, who chose to compete for communist China rather than Team USA during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Maybe we should give an award like that to American athletes who don’t support China.”

Watch the announcement below:

ESPN gave the ESPY for "Breakthrough Athlete of the Year" to Eileen Gu, the skier who grew up in San Francisco, is a current student at Stanford, but renounced her U.S. citizenship to complete for China at the Olympics last year. pic.twitter.com/3EwdtI1o9D

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 21, 2022

Watch Gu’s speech below:

After deciding to compete in the Olympics under the flag of China, Eileen Gu finishes off her Breakout Athlete of the Year speech in style. @ESPYS pic.twitter.com/M9SB250fNf

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 21, 2022