It appears China has censored social media vitriol directed at nineteen-year-old Beverly Zhu, after the figure skater took a tumble at the Olympics
She was born and raised in the United States but now competes for China under the name Zhu Yi.
The Olympian came last in the women’s singles short program in the team event after crashing into a wall failing to land a jump.
She then proceeded to miss another jump later in her routine, receiving major backlash on social media for her performance.
On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, the hashtag #ZhuYiFellOver accumulated over 230 million views.
By Sunday evening, the hashtag appeared to have been censored.
Another hashtag — #ZhuYiMessedUp — remains accessible, which has over 80 million views.
Zhu said after the race that she felt a lot of pressure because she knows everybody in China was pretty surprised with the selection for ladies’ singles.
“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,”
She SAYS.
There was little empathy for Zhu online, one Weibo user received 11,000 likes on their post that read: “This is such a disgrace.”
Even though Zhu finished with the lowest score, China fell from third to fifth place still allowing them to compete in the next round.
Written by Savannah Pocock
