Gu, a Chinese-American skier, was born and raised in the United States, switched nationality to China in 2019 and is now representing the home nation of her mother.

American state-owned broadcaster Voice of America showed that the profile was amended when checked on Thursday (February 10) after first being noticed by The Independent  a week earlier.

"After her first World Cup win in Italy in 2019, she renounced her United States citizenship for Chinese citizenship in order to represent China at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games," read the biography prior to the date.

This was changed to: "After her first World Cup win in Italy in 2019, she made the decision to compete for China."

It is likely this edit was reworded, as it could have referred to the skier switching nationalities three years ago and will have had nothing to do with details of her citizenship.

An International Olympic Committee statement said Gu acquired her Chinese nationality in 2019 and its Executive Board approved her "change of sporting nationality" in December of that year.

Gu has refused to reveal the details of her citizenship, as China's policy requires those taking up citizenship to revoke allegiances to other nations.

Article 8 of China's Nationality Law says that a person "shall not retain foreign nationality".

Gu when asked how she identifies, said she was both American and Chinese.

"Nobody can deny I'm American, nobody can deny I'm Chinese," she said.

"When I'm in the US, I'm American, but when I'm in China, I'm Chinese."

Other American publications have reported negatively on Gu for recommending Chinese social media users to download virtual private network - which can mask your location and circumvent China's internet firewall which blocks popular non-Chinese apps and websites.

American right-wing conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson mocked Gu's citizenship switch too.

Gu replied that her critics were "uneducated".

The 18-year-old said she spent "25 to 30 per cent" of her childhood in China every year.