Profile | Winter Olympics: Who is Zhu Yi, the US-born Chinese figure skater whose Beijing Games ‘dream’ turned into a nightmare?

From winning US junior novice championships, to picking Team China in 2018, to having Eileen Gu defend her, its been ‘a couple of rough years’ for Zhu

‘I’m so grateful for those who helped me push past the negative thoughts and injuries,’ the 19-year-old posted a week before her tear-filled Olympics debut

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Zhu Yi of China in the women’s singles short programme team figure skating event at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in the Capital Indoor Stadium. Photo: AP

Published: 10:45am, 11 Feb 2022Updated: 1:10pm, 13 Feb 2022

California-born Chinese figure skater Zhu Yi declared her “excitement” at the possibility of becoming “another big name for China” when she renounced her US citizenship in 2018.

Zhu has certainly fulfilled that potential at the Beijing Winter Olympics – just not for the right reasons.

After a costly team event fumble and further falls in the free skate, the sniffling 19-year-old was subjected to negative comments on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, where she was labelled “a disgrace” and “dream-stealer”, with hashtags such as “Shame on Zhu Yi”, “Zhu Yi has fallen” and “Zhu Yi cried again”.

Be it her lack of Mandarin, her US background, or accusations she was handed China’s sole women’s singles Olympic spot because of her father’s high-profile career, Zhu became an easy target for the relentless online trolls.

Zhu Yi of China after the women’s free skate team event at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in the Capital Indoor Stadium. Photo: EPA

Several teammates have since come to her defence, while the case ignited fierce commentaries over how people treat young athletes, double standards with freestyle skier Eileen Gu, and more.

While much of the hate has since been extinguished by messages of sympathy for a teenager who had the best of intentions in representing her parents’ homeland, almost everybody seems to have forgotten about her legitimate skating potential.