Figure Skater Who Defected to China Totally Abandons USA, Even Dumps Her Own Name

Somehow, the 2022 Olympics in Beijing have become the defection games as four Americans turned their backs on the U.S. to compete for China. And US-born skater Zhu Yi has even taken that to a higher level by changing her name to sound more Chinese.

Figure skater Zhu Yi was born in California, but in 2018 she renounced her U.S. citizenship and moved to red China to begin competing for the genocidal Chinese government.

Not only did Yi turn her back on the country of her birth, she even dumped her American sounding name and rechristen herself with a name that would make Chinese fans like her more. Born Beverly Yi, the skater suddenly became Zhu Yi when she defected to China.

The name change is the final slight against the country that served as her birthplace and gave her the opportunities to chase her dreams of being a world-renowned figure skater.

It also seems to reveal a certain amount of insincerity on her part. Growing up with all the benefits of an American life, but then turning her back on it all and giving herself a new name seems all too calculating.

Still, this incident also reveals the dangers of the idea of birthright citizenship. In years prior, at least one parent of a child born on U.S. soil had to be a natural-born citizen for a child to be afforded citizenship. This assumed that one or both parents had some firm ties to the U.S. and would inculcate those ties in their child. But U.S. policy slowly changed from that initial concept until now a child is an automatic citizen if born on U.S. soil, regardless of the parents’ place of birth or status.

Yi’s parents are both Chinese nationals, but she was born in California. After her defection it seems her parents may have been more interested in raising a Chinese girl, than an American one, especially with how easily the 18-year-old skater threw away her American identity and accepted her Chinese lineage.

But Yi could easily have become a leader and not just in her sport. Indeed, by turning her back on America, Yi has had a negative impact on human culture. Yi could have become a spokesperson for the oppressed like so many athletes claim to be. But by defecting to China, that positive impact can never be.

By accepting Chinese citizenship, that means Yi must accept and endorse China’s oppressive, genocidal political agenda. She cannot speak up about the enslavement and genocide the Chinese government perpetrates against its minority Uyghur population for instance.

But she is also forced to stay mum about China’s oppression of its Christian citizens and the members of Falun Gong who are routinely arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed merely because of their religion.

Then there is China’s brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movements in Tibet and Hong Kong that Yi must forever ignore.

The move has also brought her grief in her sport, at least as far as her competing in the 2022 Winter Games is concerned. Yi failed miserably during her debut events, coming in at last place in her first showing, and falling to the ice during both her first two events.

“I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” Zhu said Sunday after her first fall on the ice. “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 didn’t.”

Her disastrous showing was so bad that China made sure that videos of her falls were deleted from as many Internet sites as they were able to scrub.

The tearful young skater has also become a pariah among Chinese fans who have been blasting her as a “disgrace” on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

US-born figure skater Zhu Yi breaks down in tears after 2022 Olympics tumble https://t.co/sIzgfdalDy pic.twitter.com/UoafIAVjkZ

— New York Post (@nypost) February 7, 2022

Yi has now hit rock bottom with Chinese fans after her two horrible outings on Olympic ice. The hashtag #ZhuYiFellOver earned more than 230 million views on the China’s version of Twitter on Sunday, until the Chinese government deleted it. A second hashtag, #ZhuYiMessedUp, brought in another 80 million views.

Perhaps this could have been avoided if Yi stayed here and competed for Team USA. But even if she still would have found trouble on the ice as a member of the US Olympic delegation, at least she could have been a real force for positive change.

Sadly, as a player for red China, such a positive impact will be forever denied to the young skater.

Yi should be condemned for becoming the face of Chinese oppression. But she isn’t alone. Three other Americans have also quit America to join Team China.

In one instance, 19-year-old Olympic Freeskier Eileen Gu was born in California but decided to throw in with the communists, just like Yi. Also like Yi, Gu changed her name to a more acceptable Chinese name. She is now Gu Ailing. Gu has even taken to dissing America, the land of her birth.

Olympic Hockey also has Americans defecting to join the Red Chinese.

Jake Chelios, the son of pro hockey player Chris Chelios, moved to Beijing in 2019 to play for the China-owned Kunlun Red Star in the KHL, and now he is competing for the Chinese Olympic Hockey team. Chelios was joined by former NHL goaltender Jeremy Smith on Team China.