Hannah Smith
A Chinese figure skater has apologised for crying during her routine after she fell for a second time in as many performances.
Zhu Yi, 19, was pictured in tears as she completed her free skate on Monday after falling on the ice, a day after she posted the lowest individual score of the team competition following her first fall in the short programme.
Zhu, who was raised in the United States but renounced her American citizenship to compete for China at the Beijing Winter Olympics, has been subjected to online bullying following her performance, as Chinese social media users piled on criticism for her tears.
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'I was very emotional during the routine and wanted to cry. I couldn’t hold it back, and the tears came flowing,' Zhu said after the event, before saying she hoped she could regain her composure and perform well in the individual competition.
Making her Olympic debut over the weekend, things quickly went wrong for Zhu as she crashed into the barrier, leaving herself and her teammates only narrowly qualifying for the second day of the event as a result.
'I'm upset and a little embarrassed,' Zhu said after her skate, adding, '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.'
Her name quickly began trending on Chinese social media site Weibo, with viewers describing her performance as 'shameful' and criticising her for seemingly struggling with the pressure. CNN reports that the hashtag 'Zhu Yi has fallen' received more than 200 million views on the platform before appearing to be censored.
Prior to the Olympics beginning Zhu had already been a figure of controversy in China, having been criticised for not being able to speak fluent Mandarin. Chinese Olympians have been under huge pressure to bring home medals at their home games, with naturalised athletes like Zhu facing even more expectation to succeed.
By comparison, 18-year-old Chinese skier Eileen Gu, who was also born and raised in America, has grown hugely popular in the host nation and is widely considered the face of the games, but has been targeted by Conservative pundits in the United States for choosing to compete for China.
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