Beijing: A tearful Zhu Yi was inconsolable after nerves and pressure got the better of the U.S.-born Chinese figure skater, whose last-place performance knocked China to fifth place from third in the Beijing Games’ team event.
Skating to The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”, Zhu tumbled on her first combination triple flip-triple toeloop jump, crashing into the wall, and bungled her triple loop later, scoring 47.03.
Top-placed Kamila Valieva, for ROC (Russian Olympic Committee), scored 90.18.
“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” said the 19-year-old, who was born and raised in the United States in a Chinese immigrant family, wiping away tears after finishing her short programme stone-faced.
'Lot of pressure'
“I guess I felt a lot of pressure because I know everybody in China was pretty surprised with the selection for ladies’ singles and I just really wanted to show them what I was able to do but unfortunately I didnt,” she said, her voice quivering.
Zhu placed ninth in the women’s singles at the Grand Prix in Turin in November.
“I just felt very sad that I couldn’t do better and help (China) during this team event but I’m very grateful to have them, and have them cheering for me.”
