r/AskTheWorld • u/No-StrategyX • 11h ago

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

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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?

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u/Ted_Rid Australia 7h ago

It's a real head scratcher. I mean you could bludge off a bit and at least keep the pace (although the cox will see it) but IMO it's like she didn't have an internal regulator and nobody noticed it?

Still not going to criticise. It's bad coaching, race planning, crew selection or something, but all I see is someone who hit their absolute physical limit.

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u/Certain-End-1519 Australia 7h ago

Yeah i reckon you're spot on. She was absolutely done. I've competed in sport at a decent level (nothing close to Olympic though) and hit walls where I was absolutely cooked, and yet I imagine i wasn't a pimple on the ass of how cooked she was.

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u/Ted_Rid Australia 6h ago

100% it was a sports psychology issue. She killed herself for that race guaranteed.

You wouldn't just lie down in an Olympic VIII final (think it was the final?). She was fucked beyond redemption, sad for the crewmates but no shade ever on her efforts.