Beverly Zu, who had refused her US citizenship to be able to represent China at the Beijing Olympics has been called a "disgrace" by fellow Chinese after falling in the ring at her debut. The 19-year-old had previously set her team in the last place during the opening combination.
Zhu Yi scored the lowest for her short program at Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium.
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She was seen crying after her performance as she fell once again during the free skate. A series of blunders followed as she failed two jumps in total.
Just last night, the young woman also failed on her triple flip-triple toe-loop jump combination before crashing into the wall.
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The hashtag "Zhu Yi has fallen" became a trend on Weibo in China. However, there have been voices that wish to support her. One of them told Reuters, "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."
A recently retired editor-in-chief of Global Times shared on his Weibo that the attacks on Zhu's fails were "too much."
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The commentator, Hu Xijin, added, "I hope that some people will stop humiliating themselves and our country without any bottom line."
The previously mentioned supporter compared her reception with Gu, another US-born Chinese Olympic sportswoman, Gu. He said, "Chinese netizens generally like Gu Ailing but their rebuke of Zhu Yi is rude and uncalled for. I want to say that we should all be more open-minded than Fox and more civilized."
The comment was made after Fox News host Tucker Carlson made a jab at Gu who goes by the Chinese name Ailing.
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Zhu made her decision to refuse US citizenship to represent China for the Olympics in 2018 when she only turned 16. She's started being criticized since then, among them for not speaking Chinese fluently enough.
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Zhu started figure skating when she was seven. She won the novice division at the United States Figure Skating Championships that was held in San Jose, California.
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Internet users began wondering how did the team manage to pick her up among the other contenders.
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Zhu was seen sobbing hard after falling during her performance.
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After running into the wall at the opening performance, she told the media that she was "a little embarrassed" and spent her night counting how many points she needed to score for her team. She continued, "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."
Jin Boyang, a Chinese two-time world bronze medalist in figure skating, defended her, "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."
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He opened up about how she, too, was under pressure like her. He continued, "I fully understand her position. I was there too."
"The Olympic Winter Games is a lifetime opportunity for every competitor. Hopefully, we can gain more strength from the fact that we've gone all out and made history and leave the frustration of past errors behind us."
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"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," Jin explained.
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Zhu was born in LA, US, as Beverly Zhu. Her father is an award-winning scientist and used to work at the University of California in LA. He's moved to Beijing's Peking University in 2020.
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The trending hashtag on Weibo has been rather harsh on the 19-year-old's failures.
But there have also been people who go against the harsh criticisms. One wrote, "I hope people don't say this (insults) to Zhu."
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