Zhu reportedly renounced her U.S. citizenship in 2018 after deciding to compete for China.[5][6] She also changed her name from Beverly Zhu to Zhu Yi.[7] Zhu is one of a number of foreign-born athletes who chose to become naturalised Chinese citizens or who gained permanent residency status in China to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics.[8][9] She lived and trained in Beijing, China for the 2021–22 figure skating season.[10]
Career
Early career
Zhu started skating at seven years old after her mother's friend's daughter started lessons.[11] She narrowly missed qualifying to the U.S. National Championships in 2016 and 2017 after finishing fifth at Sectionals both seasons.[12]
Zhu switched to representing her parents' native country of China in September 2018 as part of the country's "Morning Road" initiative to recruit top athletes leading up to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.[2] She trained with five Chinese ice dancers in a group led by Chen Lu and five foreign coaches up through December.[2]
In 2019, she received Chinese citizenship and began to represent China officially in figure skating events.[14] Zhu placed fourth at the 2019 Chinese Championships in Harbin at the end of December.[15][dead link] In February, she competed at the Sofia Trophy, where she won the bronze medal.[16]
Zhu was assigned to compete at the 2021 Cup of China.[20] The event was canceled on August 17 and subsequently replaced by the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia, to which Zhu was reassigned.[21] She began the season at the 2021 CS Asian Open Trophy, the Olympic test event, finishing in seventh place.[18] She was ninth at the Gran Premio with a career-best score of 171.25 points,[22] saying afterward "I didn't do everything, but I met my goals."[23]
Zhu was chosen as the lone women's singles entry for the Chinese Olympic team over Chen Hongyi.[24] Her selection drew criticism from Chinese skating fans, who felt stars like Chen and Texas-born Ashley Lin would be better suited.[25] She began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Chinese entry in the women's segments of the Olympic team event. With the women as the last of the four short program segments, the Chinese team was in third place going in, behind only the United States and ROC. Zhu fell on her jump combination, crashing into the boards of the rink, and singled a planned triple loop. As a result, she placed last in the segment with 47.03 points (below her season best of 60 points),[26] dropping the Chinese team from third place to a tie for fifth.[27] Afterward, she said that she was "upset and a little embarrassed." In the free skate, Zhu fell twice and again placed last in the segment. China finished fifth in the team event.[28][29]
The performances drew considerable criticism from Weibo users, who also questioned her privileged background and family ties, lack of fluency in Mandarin Chinese, and selection over a native athlete.[30][4] False rumours also spread that she would rather be interviewed by CNN than Chinese media.[31] Following this, the microblogging company took steps to censor the backlash towards her and related hashtags.[32][33][34] In the women's event later on, Zhu finished 26th in the short program and did not advance to the free skate.[24][35] The performance however drew cheers and applause from the crowd midway through, and reportedly more sympathy on Weibo.[36] In a Chinese media interview afterwards, Zhu said there might have been online comments that affected her at first, but she later adjusted.[37]
2022–2023 season
Zhu did not compete internationally during this season.[18]
2023–2024 season
Prior to the season, it was announced that Zhu had begun training in Beijing full-time and that former pair skater, Tong Jian, had become her new coach.[38] She returned to international competition at the 2023 Cup of China, where she finished tenth.[39]
^Zuo, Mandy (July 9, 2019). "Can China win the World Cup with a handful of naturalized players?". Inkstone News. US-born Beverly Zhu, who won the 2018 US Figure Skating Championships, triggered a heated discussion in China after she joined the Chinese team last year, which means she can compete for the host nation at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
^"US Olympic Hopeful Says She Will Ski for China in 2022". Sixth Tone. June 10, 2019. Gu isn't the first athlete to 'become Chinese,' either officially or unofficially, in recent months. ... And last September, 17-year-old American figure skater Beverly Zhu enrolled in China's national figure skating program to vie for a roster spot at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
^《风云会》朱易专访：代表中国参赛令人兴奋 很激动能有希望参加奥运会 [Fengyunhui Zhu Yi Interview: "Competing on behalf of China is very exciting. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to try for the Olympic Games"] (in Chinese). CCTV-5. March 21, 2019.
