“Such a disgrace” – US-born figure skater Zhu Yi slammed for poor Olympic debut 

“Such a disgrace” – US-born figure skater Zhu Yi slammed for poor Olympic debut 

Zhu Yi

California-born figure skater Zhu Yi did not have a memorable Olympic debut for Team China on Sunday at the ongoing Winter Games in Beijing. The 19-year-old, who was eager to prove herself to the Chinese public, fell flat on the ice and finished last in the women’s short program team event.

Yi was even seen crying as she tumbled and crashed into the wall after a failed jump in the opening combination. Following this, the youngster went on to face a firestorm on Chinese social media as many criticized and trolled her owing to a miserable performance.

In a matter of just a few hours, the hashtag “Zhu Yi has fallen” gained 200 million views on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. However, the hashtag appeared to have been censored by last night and the reasons behind this aren’t clear yet.

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Many even went on to raise questions about why Zhu, an American-born skater, was picked to represent China at the expense of an athlete born in the country. “This is such a disgrace,” wrote a user with over 11,000 upvotes.

“I’m upset and a little embarrassed” – Zhu Yi

Zhu Yi
Zhu Yi

The teen skater expressed her sorrow and embarrassment at faltering at such a massive event. Zhu Yi further stated that she felt a lot of pressure in order to justify her selection in this event, but things went the opposite.

“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” Zhu said after the race, wiping her tears.

“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 added.

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