A winter twist came to the Summer Olympics on Wednesday as the U.S. figure skating team finally won gold as the 2022 Olympic champions.
During the special medal ceremony, nine American athletes were able to walk the runway under the bright Parisian sun, take in views of the Eiffel Tower and be basked in the warm cheers of fans packed into the stands at Champions Park.
The Beijing Olympic figure skating team event has finished, exactly two and a half years after the doping scandal surrounding the winning Russian team began, and the United States has won the medal that was not awarded at the time.
“It was definitely worth the wait, definitely,” said Karen Chen, who was wearing the first gold medal of her career around her neck.
All nine American skaters came to Paris, including Evan Bates, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donahue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.
Seven of the eight members of Japan’s team competed to win silver medals, improving on their third-place result in Beijing.
The athletes were honoured with a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” rather than the Tchaikovsky piano piece that was to have been played for the Russian athletes in Beijing.
The ceremony in France was watched by family, friends and fans.
Indoor ice arenas were nearly empty in China during the Olympics, which were held during the coronavirus lockdown.
“It’s very memorable for all of us to come here and receive our medals,” Karen Chen said. “Just looking at the crowd, seeing everything and taking it all in.”
Knierim, who skated in pairs with Frazier, had his nails painted gold.
“It just seemed fitting for the occasion,” she said of the ceremony, which was announced just two weeks ago.
Just before the start of the Paris Games, Russia’s appeal to reclaim its Olympic team title was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The title was stripped from her in January after a different CAS panel disqualified Russian teenager Kamila Valieva for doping with a banned heart drug.
She was also banned for four years.
A new CAS ruling confirmed the Russian skater’s third-place finish at the Paris Olympics but he failed to win a medal in the French capital.
The Russian Olympic Committee has been officially disqualified from competing in the Olympics, but 15 athletes will compete as neutral athletes after going through an audition process.
Canadian skaters lost an appeal by the International Skating Union last Friday to be given points in excess of their fourth-place finish.
“My heart goes out to them,” said Zhou, one of the new Olympic champions.
It was an unusual venue for a Winter Olympics medal ceremony, but it had an even more unusual feature: there was no podium, no bronze medallist, and no flagpole.
The American flag was projected onto a large screen.
Still, Bates said the Paris Games were being talked about as a “dream scenario” for the U.S. to win a medal when it left Beijing.
It was his fourth Olympic Games and his first medal.
“I don’t know what it feels like (to win a medal at the Winter Olympics), but this feels pretty good,” said Bates, who skated ice dancing with the chalk.
The longtime on-ice partners were married in June.
“We grew up dreaming about this, but not in 90-degree heat,” Bates said from the shade of a tree, while Chock joked, “We can’t stand the heat.”
Their result is the first of a number of Olympic results to be revised as a result of the doping scandal and will see rightful medals awarded at Champions Park.
on friday, 10 athletes Among the athletes set to receive the upgraded medals are two U.S. Olympic champions from 2012 London who initially won silver behind a Russian athlete who was later found to have doped.
Lacinda Demuth will win gold as Olympic champion in the women’s 400m hurdles, while Eric Kinnard will win gold in the men’s high jump.
“Today is a victory for clean athletes around the world,” Chock said.
“Some players will have to wait a lot longer than two and a half years.”
