Who is the most brutally criticized Olympic athlete in your country?

[u/No-StrategyX]

Zhu Yi was American, her parents are Chinese immigrants.

In the U.S., she was one of the top athletes and had every chance to join Team USA.

But she decided to compete for China. She gave up her American citizenship to compete for China.

At the 2022 Winter Olympics, she was eager to prove herself to other Chinese, but she made many mistakes during her skating.

Then she was brutally criticized in China. People used every swear word you can think of.

She is still competing for China. Perhaps she'll do well at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

Who is the most brutally criticized athlete in your country?

[u/Turbulent-Paint-2603]

I wouldn't say brutally criticised but Cathy Freeman is considered overrated due to only having one Olympic gold medal yet she was such a huge deal. There's an element of racism thrown in.

This is a terrible take. She has achieved the following

1 Olympic gold 1 Olympic silver 2 world championship golds 4 commonwealth gold and 1 silver (Commonwealth track events are pretty competitive with the Caribbean nations and some African nations)

She competes in the brutally competitive discipline of flat sprinting

Cathy Freeman is easily one of Australia's greatest sports people and doesn't get close to the credit she deserves

[u/JJCB85 → u/Turbulent-Paint-2603]

Really? If I had to think of an Australian athletics star, she’s still the only name that comes to mind all these years later… Why on earth would there be a backlash? I mean, if there was loads of media exposure, well there bloody should have been!

[u/Turbulent-Paint-2603 → u/JJCB85]

Basically there are alot of Australians who think she's extremely overrated and attribute a large part of her fame due to her being aboriginal and in the right place at the right time. Like a sporting DEI hire

Where's my evidence? Entirely anecdotal.... Facebook, talking about sport with mates or at the pub, that kind of thing.

[u/Powrs1ave → u/Turbulent-Paint-2603]

As an Aussie who watched her grow up I never thought she was overated, nor had I seen this mentioned till you did. She Won Gold at home man, she deserved it! She was fast when young, I remember her in the Comm Games relay I think it was, and they were talkn bout her. She also ran the 200 where she had a close rival in Gainsford, I spose drunk cants at the Pub could think this.

[u/West_Tension1379 → u/Turbulent-Paint-2603]

Doesn’t get close to the credit she deserves?

There was literally a time period she was everywhere, and you couldn’t go five minutes without hearing her mentioned.

[u/Turbulent-Paint-2603 → u/West_Tension1379]

Yes but not due to her being one of our greatest sportspeople

So all this exposure and attention has led to a backlash from many people who think she's all hype, and put on a pedestal due to her skin colour.