L.A.-born Zhu criticized on China’s social media
Figure skater Zhu Yi, who gave up her U.S. citizenship to compete for China at the Beijing Winter Olympics, has faced abuse on Chinese social media after crashing into a wall in the team event.
Twitter-like Sina Weibo said it had suspended 93 accounts and deleted 300 abusive posts about the Olympian, who was born in Los Angeles to Chinese parents and won a U.S. national novice title as Beverly Zhu. Some social-media messages mocked her for falling, and others criticized her for not being fluent in Chinese.
“I am relieved because (there is) a lot of pressure and people are expecting a lot,” Zhu said Monday after her performance. “Honestly, I’ve trained really hard and I think the main thing is coping mentally.”
Zhu finished last in the short program and China placed fifth in the competition, which was won by Russia, with the U.S. taking silver and Japan bronze.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency offered its support in a tweet, saying: “For young skaters of China, they need time and tolerance to play better in the future. Don’t cry, Zhu Yi. We are with you.”
Disqualified: The International Ski Federation says five women were disqualified from the ski jump mixed team competition because their jumpsuits were too big and offered an aerodynamic advantage.
Germany’s Katharina Althaus and Japan’s Sara Takanashi were among the five whose suits violated rules in the Olympic debut of an event that featured two women and two men on each team.
“They destroyed women’s ski jumping,” Althaus told Reuters. “Our names are now (out) there and we just pulled the crap card. That is how you destroy nations, development and the entire sport.”
Norway had two jumpers, Silje Opseth and Anna Odine Stroem, with jumpsuits that didn’t pass inspection. Austria’s Daniela Iraschko Stolz was also disqualified.
Ratings report: Through the first four nights of competition, NBC was on track for the lowest-rated Winter Games in history. Friday night’s coverage on NBC, USA Network and Peacock averaged 12.8 million viewers, significantly down from the 27.8 million average in Pyeongchang four years ago.
Thursday night’s audience of 8 million marked the smallest prime-time Olympics audience on record, surpassing the 9 million that tuned in for the Closing Ceremony of the Tokyo Games.
NBC saw a steady increase in viewers Saturday and Sunday night, but the ratings are down more than half compared with Pyeongchang. Preliminary figures from Saturday show 13.6 million, and 13.7 million from Sunday.
Medical report:
Finland’s players wore masks Tuesday for their women’s hockey game against the Russians, who have been dealing with positive coronavirus test results in recent days.
After the game, which Finland won 5-0, ROC coach Evgeny Bobariko told state news agency RIA Novosti that Polina Bolgareva — who played Monday against Canada — tested positive for the virus.
Beijing Olympic organizers say there are 32 athletes in isolation facilities after they tested positive for the coronavirus and they’re spending an average of seven days in isolation.