Back from a whirlwind of stardom and controversy at the Winter Olympics in Milan, gold medalist Eileen Gu returned home Saturday night to lead San Francisco’s annual Chinese New Year Parade.
Gu, who was born and raised in the city, has been castigated as a traitor (opens in new tab) on social media for representing China — her mother’s home country — on the world stage. But as she lit firecrackers at the Union Square television broadcast zone to officially kick off the parade, she was simply a daughter of San Francisco’s Chinese community.
“Growing up in San Francisco, this was a huge part of my childhood, and I remember going every year,” Gu said in a statement ahead of the event…