TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Two American-born athletes competing for China received two radically different reactions from Chinese social media to their performances at the Winter Olympics.
As freestyle skier Eileen Gu won her gold medal in the big air competition, the Chinese internet was quite literally overwhelmed.
Sina Weibo, the massive social network that is similar to Twitter, found its servers temporarily overloaded with praise for the 18-year-old San Franciscan.
It was a stark contrast to the reception received by another U.S.-born athlete competing for China, figure skater Zhu Yi, who a few days prior came under attack on social media after she crashed into a wall during the team event.
The Associated Press reported that Weibo suspended 93 accounts and deleted 300 abusive posts about the Olympian.
The news outlet reported that fans are likely mad at Zhu because she took the last spot on the Chinese team, a decision that the Chinese figure skating Olympic selection committee had to defend.
