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| Son Yeon-jae at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics / Korea Times file |
By Ko Dong-hwan
South Korean gold medal gymnast Son Yeon-jae was no exception to the nation's merciless cyber bullies, with the so-called "keyboard warriors" inundating the star's Instagram page until it crashed.
Netizens flocked to Son's social network site after she posted a "Like" for an Instagram post by Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova. The post shows Sotnikova biting her gold medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.
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| Adelina Sotnikova, right, celebrates her gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, while South Korean Kim Yuna watches her. / Korea Times file |
Sotnikova's gold medal was controversial in Seoul, with the judges' decision raising the eyebrows of many, who had expected South Korea's Kim Yuna to win.
Kim retired after the Sochi Olympics, which disappointed her fans, who had expected her to take on the Russian again. To them, Son "liking" the Russian's social network post was apparently upsetting.
Son, 23, said on a TV program in last December that she had suffered from cyber bullies and that she feared that all Koreans disliked her. This had prompted her to avoid contact with Koreans, she said.
