U.S.-born figure skater Zhu Yi was blasted on Chinese social media after a poor performance at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Yi,19, was chosen to compete for China after she gave up her American citizenship and name in 2018, but she did not deliver on the ice on Sunday. She fell twice during a free skate team competition and landed the lowest score, knocking the team down to fifth place, according to CNN.
Although she left the rink in tears, users on Weibo, a popular social media site in China, did not spare her feelings.
"Zhu Yi has fallen" trended on the Twitter-like platform with more than 200 million views, CNN reported.
"This is such a disgrace," another comment said with 11,000 upvotes.
“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!”
The Western Journal reported the hashtag was censored and later disappeared.
A distraught Yi said she was "upset and a little embarrassed" after leaving the race.
“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,” she said, according to the Western Journal.
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Yi was born in Los Angeles and shortened her name from Beverly Zhu to Zhu Yi once she renounced her U.S. citizenship, CNN reported
She was chosen to compete over athletes born in the country which caused more hate to be spewed her way, but some users on Twitter stood up for the young skater.
"The internet is such a cruel place and my heart breaks for Zhu Yi. She fought like hell for that skate and saw it through," one user tweeted.
"The hate and abuse #ZhuYi is getting makes me sick. Keep your head high & comeback stronger," another user wrote.
As of Monday morning, China had won two gold medals in figure skating events.
Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: [email protected].
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