An American-born Chinese figure skater broke down in tears yesterday after falling twice in the women's short program team event.
Nineteen-year-old Beverly Zu gave up her US citizenship and changed her name to Zhu Yi to compete for China at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
But the teenager has faced a run of bad luck in Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium. On Sunday, she finished with the lowest score at the event after failing to land two jumps and falling on the opening combination of her routine.
Yesterday, she had another unlucky fall during the final event in the team competition - the 'free skate'. Unable to hold back her emotion, she broke down in tears on the ice.
Since her performance in the competition, the young figure skater has been trending on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. Daily Mail reports that the hashtag 'Zhu Wi Has fallen' began trending and gained 200 million views in just a few hours.
Meanwhile, Zhu may have been disappointed with her results, but the young Olympian has been met by an outpouring of love and support online and in the media.
One man urged sympathy, telling Reuters in Beijing that: "As long as she represents China, or no matter which country she represents, even though she fell down, we have to be tolerant."
"There should be no politicization and narrow-mindedness to treat this matter, sportsmanship must come first," he added.
Chinese figure skater and two-time world bronze medalist Jin Boyang also reminded people to treat Zhu with kindness.
"Zhu is a hard-working girl, and should not be blamed for her first performance on the Olympic stage, whether it's good or bad," he told Xinhua News.
"She's under huge pressure as China's last performer in the team event short program and the sole skater in women's figure skating, especially after her selection over the two other girls," he added.
Zhu's inclusion in the team over Chinese-born athletes stoked controversy. Born in Los Angeles to Chinese parents, she grew up in the U.S. where she had the given name Beverly.
In 2018, the young skater won the novice division while competing at the United States Figure Skating Championships. Later that year she decided to represent China in the Olympics, following the nation's efforts to attract top athletes to their team.
The Communist country has recruited at least a dozen foreign-born athletes to compete on its Olympic teams in recent years.
But despite surrendering her American citizenship and changing her name, Zhu has continued to face criticism from the Chinese public due to not being fluent in Mandarin.
