Wu Yanni’s failure to reach the final of the women’s 60 metres hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing on Sunday ignited a furious debate on social media.
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Despite setting a new national record time of 8.01 seconds, the 27-year-old missed out on the final by 0.01 seconds.
Her time was the fourth fastest ever run by an Asian woman, but was only good enough for sixth in her semi-final and, while some slammed Wu for not challenging for a medal, others leapt to her defence, arguing she was the best the country had to offer.
“Her ability and fame do not match up,” one user said.
“She’s just a marketing tool and an internet celebrity,” another said.
One popular comment compared Wu to China’s Olympic gold medal-winning hurdler Liu Xiang in terms of their level of fame, before adding “but her strength is a million miles away.”
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