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Nicolas Atkin

US-born figure skater Zhu Yi has come under fire from Chinese fans on social media after a fall on her Winter Olympics debut for Team China.
The 19-year-old Californian fell flat on the ice during her routine on Sunday, finishing last in the Beijing 2022 women’s short programme team event.
The hashtag “Zhu Yi has fallen” quickly became a top trending topic on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, gaining 200 million views in just a few hours, before it was later seemingly censored.
Zhu’s selection for the Games had already been a controversial topic, after she was picked at the expense of a China-born athlete.

Born in Los Angeles to a Chinese immigrant family, she reportedly came close to opting to represent the US, but gave up her American citizenship to represent China in 2018, and changed her name from Beverly Zhu.
“Shame on Zhu Yi,” one netizen wrote on Weibo after her routine on Sunday.
Zhu Yi falls again, cries during routine as online criticism intensifies
“Zhu Yi, how ridiculous your performance is!” another user said. “How dare you skate for China? You cannot even hold a candle to an amateur!”
Another comment, with 11,000 upvotes, said “this is such a disgrace”.
Zhu was cheered by the Chinese crowd at Beijing’s Capital Indoor Stadium, on what was the second day of competition for the figure skating team event.

But she crashed into the wall after messing up a jump in her opening combination, and then failed another jump to finish with the lowest score – which knocked China down from third to fifth in the team standings.
“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” Zhu said after her performance, as she wiped away tears.
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“I guess I felt a lot of pressure because I know everybody in China was pretty surprised with the selection for ladies’ singles and I just really wanted to show them what I was able to do but unfortunately I didn’t.”

Zhu cannot speak fluent Chinese, something which has also drawn criticism on Weibo.
“Please let her learn Chinese first, before she talks about patriotism,” one Weibo user said.
Other fans also insisted her selection was down to her family ties. Her father Zhu Songchun is an award-winning artificial intelligence scientist, who joined Peking University in 2020 from the University of California, Los Angeles.
“I just felt very sad that I couldn’t do better and help [China] during this team event but I’m very grateful to have them, and have them cheering for me,” Zhu added.

Zhu’s treatment by Chinese fans is in stark contrast to that of Eileen Gu, another US-born athlete represent China at these Games.
The 18-year-old freestyle skier Gu has fluent Mandarin and spent summer holidays in Beijing as a child.
Gu has 1.9 million followers on Weibo, and has become the face of these Olympics for China, with her debut in Monday’s freeski big air qualifications highly-anticipated on Chinese social media.


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Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

‘Shame on Zhu Yi’: Chinese fans turn on US-born figure skater after fall at Winter Olympics before Weibo hashtag is seemingly censored

China’s Zhu Yi crashes while competing at the Capital Indoor Stadium during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Photo: David Mcintyre/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

China’s Zhu Yi competes in the women’s singles figure skating short programme. Photo: dpa

Zhu Yi of China falls down. Photo: Xinhua

Zhu Yi of China performs at Beijing 2022. Photo: Xinhua

Eileen Gu of Team China poses for a picture after placing first in the women’s freeski halfpipe competition at the Toyota US Grand Prix, at Mammoth Mountain in California. Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images North America/AFP

Winter Olympics: China’s US-born figure skater Zhu Yi falls again, cries during routine as online abuse intensifies – ‘I couldn’t hold it back’

China’s Zhu Yi cries during her performance in the women’s team figure skating competition at the Capital Indoor Stadium during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Photo: Peter Kneffel/dpa

Zhu Yi of China falls during the team event’s women’s single free skating. Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei

Zhu Yi performs on Monday. Photo: Xinhua/Li Yibo

Zhu Yi reacts after her free skating routine in the team event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei

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Hong Kong team flag-bearer Sidney Chu at the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games at the National Stadium in China. Photo: EPA   

Hong Kong short-track speed skater Sidney Chu in a training session before the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo: Reuters   

Hong Kong short-track speed skater Sidney Chu (left) with head coach and two-time Chinese Olympic silver medallist Sun Dandan Photo: HKSF&OC   

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Hong Kong short-track speed skater Sidney Chu and representative delegates at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Photo: AP 

Hong Kong short-track speed skater Sidney Chu in training at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing. Photo: SF&OC 

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Sport

China

Beijing Winter Games 2022

Figure Skating


The 19-year-old admits ‘I’m upset and embarrassed’ as she wipes away tears after Beijing 2022 stumble
Hashtag criticising Californian trends on Weibo, with fans calling out her family ties and lack of Chinese-speaking skills



The 19-year-old admits ‘I’m upset and embarrassed’ after Winter Olympics debut, with hashtag criticising her trending on Weibo before being censored.


IOC (International Olympic Committee)

‘Shame on Zhu Yi’: Chinese fans turn on US-born figure skater after fall at Winter Olympics before Weibo hashtag is seemingly censored

The 19-year-old admits ‘I’m upset and embarrassed’ as she wipes away tears after Beijing 2022 stumble Hashtag criticising Californian trends on Weibo, with fans calling out her family ties and lack of Chinese-speaking skills

The 19-year-old admits ‘I’m upset and embarrassed’ as she wipes away tears after Beijing 2022 stumble

Hashtag criticising Californian trends on Weibo, with fans calling out her family ties and lack of Chinese-speaking skills