China's naturalised Olympians walk fine line between love and scorn

BEIJING: Eileen Gu and Beverly Zhu were both born and raised in the United States before they decided to represent China, but their contrasting fortunes at the Beijing Winter Olympics highlight the fine line between love and condemnation for the host nation's naturalised athletes.

Freestyle skier Gu has inspired ecstasy and adulation among Chinese fans, but figure skater Zhu has endured a torrent of online abuse after two blunder-filled performances.

The 18-year-old Gu - known as Gu Ailing in China - cemented herself as one of the faces of the Games by winning gold in the inaugural women's Big Air on Tuesday (Feb 8).

"Gu Ailing is taking part in her first Winter Olympics but still landed a 1620 and won gold - she is so, so awesome!" said one widely shared social media post, referring to the high-stakes trick that sealed her win.

"So happy for you," said another. "Can't wait to see even more amazing performances from you!"

The mood was wildly different for Zhu, who competes under her Chinese name Zhu Yi.

The 19-year-old broke down in tears on Monday after falling twice during her routine, after a tumble the previous day almost cost China a place in the final.

But her distress failed to win much forgiveness on Chinese social media, where she was savaged for the mistakes.

On the Twitter-like Weibo, the hashtag #ZhuYiFellOver racked up 230 million views.

"I don't know why someone like this was allowed to represent China," wrote one user.

The abuse was so intense that authorities appeared to censor some posts.

In recent years, the country with a population of 1.4 billion has recruited some foreign-born athletes to boost its national squads, notably for football and ice hockey.

China are by no means the only ones to do it, but the country