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Claire Lai, the brave daughter of imprisoned Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, has publicly appealed to Olympic champion Eileen Gu to use her enormous platform to plead for basic mercy for a dying man. In a heartfelt open letter published during the Milan–Cortina Games, Claire reminded Gu that both of them were shaped by American values and urged the athlete to be a “force for good” on humanitarian grounds.
Jimmy Lai — a man who spent his life fighting for free speech and an honest press — was quietly handed a 20-year sentence by Hong Kong authorities on February 9, 2026, a punishment that all but guarantees his final years will be spent behind bars. His family says he has been held in solitary for years and is in failing health, making Claire’s plea not only political but deeply personal and urgent.
Meanwhile, Eileen Gu, the Stanford-educated skier born and raised in the United States, stood on the podium this year competing for the People’s Republic of China — a choice that should force her to reckon with the regime she now publicly represents. Americans who love liberty have every right to ask whether the medals are worth the silence, especially when those silences coincide with the imprisonment of figures like Lai.
Gu’s refusal to speak out on glaring human-rights abuses — dismissing atrocity allegations as “not my business” — is chilling to anyone who believes athletic glory should carry moral responsibility. When an athlete so visibly benefits from the good graces of an authoritarian state, silence becomes complicity, and Claire’s letter rightly calls on her to choose humanity over propaganda.
Jimmy Lai’s story is a clarion warning about what happens when free societies look away and when elites cash checks from regimes that crush dissent. Conservatives who cherish press freedom and religious liberty ought to stand with Claire Lai: demand accountability, amplify her plea, and refuse to normalize a world where our cultural icons accept the benefits of authoritarianism while ignoring its victims.
This is about more than one man or one letter; it is about whether the West will still stand for liberty when it costs something. Claire Lai’s courageous appeal shows the moral clarity so many Americans still possess — now it’s on public figures and policymakers to act, or to be judged by history for their silence.
