“I ran really slow while they ran super fast. Oh my god!” the 27-year-old added in a post-run interview with mainland media on Wednesday.
Though she fell short of qualification in the 100m hurdles, Wu will get a second chance in Thursday’s repechage.
Wu said she did not expect too much from Paris and her first Olympics was more an opportunity to learn from other, world-class hurdlers.
“I hope I can run faster, even just a little, in the repechage,” she said. “I want to break my own personal record.”
In China, Wu is one of the most popular and talked-about athletes on social media for her personality off the track as well as impressive performances on it.
The interview of Wu’s zero-point assessment has attracted over 27 million views with more than 1,600 comments on Chinese social media platform Douyin.
Many have expressed support for Wu, asking her not to lose confidence.
“Since when have you become so defeated? It would never be zero. Be confident, Yanni,” one user wrote.
Another said: “No matter what result you got, you remain our hero and the nation’s pride.”
But some suggested people had gone “so easy” on an athlete who did not deliver what she was capable of.
“I am a bit worried about her,” one Douyin user said. “Her level of public profile does not match her actual performance.
“You can be a high profile. But please gain that attention after you have actually earned something.”
“It turns out that truly liking someone means being able to accept everything about her. I now understand what social media darling really means,” another one wrote.
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