An American-born figure skater competing for China at the Winter Olympics was blasted Sunday on the Communist country's most popular social media app after a disappointing performance.
Zhu Yi, 19, fell twice during the women's short program team event, CNN reported. China fell from third to fifth place due to her effort.
The figure skater, who gave up her U.S. citizenship and changed her name to compete for China, crashed into the wall during her routine and fell again during the performance.
"I'm upset and a little embarrassed," Zhu said in an interview afterward, according to the Daily Mail.
"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."
Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, enjoyed 200 million views in the hours following Zhu’s program, CNN reported.
The hashtag "Zhu Yi has fallen" immediately became the top trending topic on the social media platform.
"This is such a disgrace," a person wrote and received 11,000 likes on Weibo, according to CNN.
Weibo users criticized Zhu for not speaking fluent Chinese, comparing her to San Francisco-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who was recruited to play for China and impressed the Communist country with her perfect Mandarin.
"Please let her learn Chinese first, before she talks about patriotism," a Weibo user wrote about Zhu.
"Zhu Yi, how ridiculous your performance is! How dare you skate for China? You cannot even hold a candle to an amateur!" another person wrote.
Chinese figure skater and two-time world bronze medalist Jin Boyang, 24, asked that people be kind to Zhu.
"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," he told Xinhua News.
Zhu, born in California and previously known as Beverly Zu, was recruited by China to join its team. She gave up U.S. citizenship after deciding in 2018 to compete for China in the Olympics.
China has recruited at least a dozen foreign-born athletes in recent years to compete on its Olympic teams, CNN reported.
Zhu's father, Zhu Songchun, is an award-winning scientist who joined the staff at Beijing's Peking University in 2020, the Daily Mail reported. He previously worked at the University of California, Los Angeles.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.