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| The Japanese skater is a much-loved figure in China. In October, a spokeswoman tweeted a message in Japanese, telling Hanyu's homeland fans they could count on Chinese citizens cheering for him at the Games. (Photo by= Reuters) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] Chinese netizens have rallied around Japanese figure skating star Yuzuru Hanyu after the two-time defending Olympic champion fell on his final skate, failing to reclaim his title. BBC said that the support for the star comes just two days after Chinese social media users savaged one of their own athletes.
However, Hanyu has long been a crowd favorite in China, despite its political tensions with Japan. On Thursday, the Chinese social platform Weibo overflowed with messages of support for the 27-year-old after his failed attempts to reclaim his title. Moreover, on Thursday, conversations about skating idol Hanyu dominated the Twitter-like Weibo site. The top hashtag #YuzuruHanyuFalls had more than 300 million views. Many users praised his attempt to land a world-first quad axel in his free skate routine -after a poor result in his earlier short program necessitated a drastic element to get back into the metal stakes.
Hanyu, however, crashed onto his backside in attempting the daring jump and stumbled again later on in his routine. But, in contrast to the criticism aimed at Zhu on Monday, nearly all of the comments for Hanyu from netizens were positive and encouraging. The Japanese skater is widely admired for his expressive, romantic style. His popularity in China appears to transcend political tensions between the two nations.
