[imagesource: Reuters]

Did you know the Winter Olympics are underway?

I watched the biathlon the other day, which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

Not the most natural fit but props to the athletes who can pull it off.

So, let’s talk figure skating and the plight of Zhu Yi, whose performance during yesterday’s women’s short program team event sparked a social media attack of note.

19-year-old Zhu, who was born in the US and previously went by Beverly, is competing for China at the Beijing 2022 Games having made that decision back in 2018.

Here’s ABC News:

She fell twice during her Olympic debut, which nearly cost the Chinese team their place in the next round of the competition.

Zhu came last and the team dropped from third to fifth place.

Image: AP / David J Phillip

“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” Zhu said after the event, wiping away tears.

“I felt a lot of pressure because I know everybody in China was pretty surprised with the selection for the women’s singles and I just really wanted to show them what I was able to do it, but unfortunately I didn’t.”

She didn’t and the backlash was brutal.

#ZhuYiFellOver began to trend on Chinese social media site Weibo, racking up in excess of 230 million views before censors stepped in and deactivated it.

A second hashtag, #ZhuYiMessedUp, was also scrubbed from Weibo and Zhu’s name disappeared from the trending topics.

Footage of the fall is hard to come by on social media. If you’re in Australia, you can watch it here.

Otherwise, the best I can find is the short slow-motion replay around the 50-second mark below:

Much of the criticism centered on the decision to pick Zhu ahead of 18-year-old Chen Hongyi, as well as Zhu’s father:

“This is the result of replacing Chen Hongyi?” one Weibo user questioned…

Some posts brought up that Zhu didn’t speak fluent Chinese, while others claimed she was favoured in selections because of her father, an award-winning artificial intelligence scientist.

One commenter sarcastically wrote, “Congratulations to the Chinese figure skating team for making such a huge contribution to the field of computing.”

Via The South China Morning Post, more of the critiques:

“Zhu Yi, how ridiculous your performance is!” another user said. “How dare you skate for China? You cannot even hold a candle to an amateur!”

…“Please let her learn Chinese first, before she talks about patriotism,” one Weibo user said.

The Chinese team has qualified for the next round so perhaps she will get her chance at redemption.

[sources:abc&scmp]