After Two-Year Wait, Team USA Figure Skaters Are Awarded Olympic Gold

Nearly two years after competing at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, Team USA is officially recognized as champions in the figure skating team event.

“It just feels like almost a weight has been lifted, and we feel so happy to be able to share this with our families and our friends,” said ice dancer Madison Chock, whose winning free dance with partner Evan Bates initially secured the team silver medal in Beijing. “We have just been flooded with loving messages. It almost feels like we’re celebrating our Olympic experience all over again.”

The news that the Americans are now gold medalists was delivered Tuesday by United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland, following the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) suspension and disqualification of Russian Olympic Committee athlete Kamila Valieva for a doping violation, and the subsequent confirmation by the International Skating Union that Team USA had been elevated to the top of the podium. It’s the first U.S. gold medal in the figure skating team event.

“This is about celebration, it’s about recognizing extraordinary achievements, but also having hope that a system is growing and improving in ensuring that all athletes from around the world can count on showing up to compete on a level playing field and (enjoy) fair play,” Hirshland told reporters on a media teleconference.

Added Tracy Marek, CEO of U.S. Figure Skating: “The U.S. Figure Skating team have always been champions, we know that, but now this group of nine are recognized across the globe as Olympic gold medalists, the first team to win the (team) gold medal in history.”

Chock and Bates, who served as team captains in Beijing, are now the reigning world champions in ice dance, and over the weekend won their fifth U.S. title in Columbus, Ohio.

The other seven members of the winning team — singles skaters Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Karen Chen, ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, and pairs team Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier — are not actively competing.

“That goes to show the career span of an Olympic athlete — in most cases, not long,” Bates said. “That makes the two-year wait difficult and challenging. But I think the communication over the last 24 hours has been incredibly celebratory and a lot of it has been, ‘I love you guys, I love this team.’ Yes, the medal is great, but it’s more about the bond, it’s about the friendship.”

Zhou, who performed in the men’s free skate in the team event — Nathan Chen performed in the short program — was still processing the news on Tuesday afternoon.

“I could hardly believe it, it’s been such an unchartered territory,” he told TeamUSA.com when reached via telephone at Brown University, where he is a full-time student. “The proceedings (with CAS) were quite opaque. Even the athletes directly involved really did not know what was going on. We didn’t know what to think; we didn’t know what to expect. And so finally sharing the news after two years was completely unexpected.”

The news is especially poignant for Zhou, who was unable to compete in the individual men’s event in Beijing due to a positive COVID-19 test prior to the short program. After seriously considering retirement, he fought through depression to win a bronze medal at the 2022 world championships, held a month after the Games.

“I’m experiencing emotions that I can’t put a name to, and there are so many layers to the story,” Zhou said. “I have not been able to unpack all of it, especially as I’m still just going about my classes and my schedule. (The Olympics) were a different world. And I don’t have a tangible item or physical activity related to (skating) going on right now. So it just feels kind of surreal all around.”

It has yet to be determined where, and when, the medal ceremony will be held. In a communication on Monday, the ISU confirmed it had disallowed Valieva’s results in the women’s portion of the team event. However, it let the results of the other members of the ROC team stand. Under this scenario, Team USA wins gold, while Japan takes silver and ROC the bronze. Canada, whose team placed fourth in the event, has announced that it is considering an appeal to CAS.

“There is no scenario at this point in which Team USA is not the gold medal winners, and so we’re focused on getting those gold medals awarded to Team USA,” Hirshland said. “Even in my conversations with the IOC last night, they are as eager as we are. And the number one priority is to allow the team (members) to really weigh in and ensure that they have the opportunity to help us craft what that celebration should look like.”

Possibilities discussed include a ceremony at the upcoming world championships in Montreal, as well as this summer’s Paris Games.

“It doesn’t have to be a ceremony with all three of the gold, silver, bronze (medals) awarded in the same place at the same time,” Hirshland said. “So we’ve got a bit of flexibility to think about what’s going to be best for Team USA, independent of what may be best for Japan, and ultimately ROC or Canada.”

Chock called having a ceremony in Paris this summer “a dream scenario.”

“I remember when all of this initially happened, the first thing that came to everyone’s mind was well, we would love to have a true Olympic medal ceremony,” she said. “And so for us, that would be a medal ceremony at the Paris Games this summer.”

Zhou, too, sees the Paris Games as good choice, but he is open to suggestions, so long has his parents, siblings and support team can be there to savor the moment with him.

“My honest answer is I don’t know,” he said. “I find a lot of people are saying 2024 Olympics, but those are summer Olympics. Some people are saying 2026 Olympics, but that’s so far away, and it doesn’t feel right to delay it another two years. Some people are saying the world championships in Montreal.

“I think I will just go with the flow. I will take anything that I can get at this point because it’s been 721 days. It’s been 721 days of nothing.”

Lynn Rutherford has covered five Olympic Games, including the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing for TeamUSA.com. Based in New York, she is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.