Praise for Eileen Gu breaks Chinese social media

By HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

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. 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.