Praise For Eileen Gu Breaks Chinese Social Media
Feb 8, 2022, 9:54 AM | Updated: 10:36 am
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Two American-born athletes competing for China. 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.
Eileen Gu wins GOLD! 🥇
The 18-year-old is taking home the Olympic gold medal in women's freeski big air. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/6plW8t7kLR
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 8, 2022
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 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
Just a year after Japan’s summer Olympics, the Games are back for a winter show in Beijing, China. The unusually short gap between Games is due to the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Strict precautions and enforced virus prevention protocol are in place to help keep athletes, coaches and personnel safe.
Beijing is the capital of China, with a population of more than 20 million people and the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympic games. It is one of the largest cities in the world and 15 hours ahead of Mountain Time. There are 13 different venues in and around Beijing that will be used for the Winter Olympics. A total of 109 events will be held in 15 different sports, and there will be a lot of Utah locals competing for medals. Keep up to date with them at our Olympic headquarters.
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