More than two years after competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics, a group of U.S. Olympians will receive gold medals at this year’s Summer Olympics.
Nine members of the U.S. team – Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Karen Chen, Alexa Knierim, Brandon Frazier, Madison Chock, Evan Bates, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue – will get gold medals after initially finishing second in the figure skating team event. The team was elevated to first after a positive drug test of Russian Olympic Committee athlete Kamila Valieva before the 2022 Games was revealed.
The U.S. left the 2022 Winter Olympics without receiving a medal due to the uncertainty of the result.
In January, officials ruled that the U.S. team should be awarded a gold medal as they tossed Valieva’s results. Russian Olympic officials appealed the decision. On Thursday, the Court of Arbitration upheld the decision, which now means the U.S. finished first and Japan finished second.
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“This decision comes just in time to still be able to make the medal allocation for gold and silver possible during the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the International Olympic Committee said. “We are glad that this opportunity can be offered to the athletes and teams who, unfortunately, had to wait for a very long time for their medals due to the ongoing legal case.”
In a press release, U.S. athletes suggested that Paris would be a great place to get their gold medals.
“We [the team] would love to have a true Olympic medal ceremony. So, for us, that would be a medal ceremony at the Paris Games this summer,” Chock said. “That would be the dream scenario — to be able to stand atop a podium at an Olympic event and be there with our families. To celebrate and be surrounded by the Olympic spirit and the Olympic movement would be our dream scenario.”
The Court of Arbitration still has to decide whether Canada should be awarded a bronze medal due to the dismissal of results.