Chinese figure skater Zhu Yi left the ice rink in tears on Monday after falling twice during the free skating event in the women’s team competition.
Zhu had already been subjected to a barrage of online criticism on the Chinese social media platform Weibo after she fell on Sunday before missing a jump, with her error causing China to drop from third to fifth place in the rankings.
Afterwards, “Zhu Yi has fallen” was a trending topic on Weibo, with the hashtag gaining around 200 million views.
Zhu, who was born in Los Angeles to parents who immigrated from China, relinquished her US citizenship in 2018 in order to represent her parents’ home country at the Games.
“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” she said on Sunday. “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.”
Under pressure to perform on Monday, Zhu landed her first two jumps but then fell while attempting a triple flip. She then tumbled again soon afterwards and broke down in tears on the ice after completing her run.
China finished the event in fifth place, with the Russian Olympic Committee taking gold, ahead of the United States in second and Japan in third.
