Photo from Huang Yuting's weibo account

Huang Yuting, a speed skater from the Taiwan island participating in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, has encountered cyberbullying from media and netizens from the island over a now-deleted Instagram post showing her wearing a team uniform of the Chinese mainland team.

Amid the controversy, Chinese mainland netizens supported Huang, calling her not to be manipulated by pro-secession forces and not fall into their trap to politicize sports and Olympic. 

According to reports, Huang released a video on Instagram on January 23 showing her skating. She said in the post that it was only one week before she went to Beijing.

Some netizens of the Taiwan island recognized that the uniform she was wearing was that of Chinese national team and flooded her account with heavy criticism. Some said that she was deliberately doing this as she wanted to make money on the mainland.

On Thursday, Huang said on mainland's Twitter-like Sina Weibo that she had deleted the post as she did not want people to put attention on the wrong focus.

"It is fine if you do not cheer for me, but please cheer for athletes you support," Huang said in the Weibo post.

She also said in a post on Facebook on Wednesday that "sports are sports and there is no difference of nationality in it."

Previously, Huang had responded to the criticism, saying that she was not doing this for money.

She explained that the uniform was given by a friend from the Chinese national team as a gift. Huang said she and the friend received training together in Germany years ago. They had not seen each other for years until this year.   

In a video circulating on Weibo on Thursday, Huang told Taiwan media during a video interview that it is normal for athletes to exchange gifts such as team uniform with each other. She noted that the Beijing Winter Olympic Games is her last opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games and she just wanted to focus on and enjoy the competitions. 

However, some pro-secession media and netizens from the island rejected the explanation and continue to slam her.

Some island observers even made malicious speculation that the friend Huang mentioned deliberately gave the national team's uniform to Huang out of ulterior motives.

But mainland netizens pointed out that apparently these observers do not know that it is a tradition for athletes to exchange gifts including team uniform and souvenirs after training or competitions.   

"Focus on your competition. Do not fall into their political trap!" one Weibo user commented on Huang's account. 

Global Times