The U. S. Olympic skating team learned Monday that it will get gold medals now that Russian skater Kamila Valieva has been officially disqualified for doping at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
The U. S. Olympic skating team learned Monday that it will get gold medals now that Russian skater Kamila Valieva has been officially disqualified for doping at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
According to ABC News, the U. S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee reported that the IOC would award gold to the United States in the team competition, leading to uncertainty after Valieva’s positive test was revealed six weeks earlier. the competition.
And an email sent through the IOC to the USOPC, received via The Associated Press, said the IOC “can now award medals according to classification, which will have to be established through the International Skating Union. ” .
The IOC expressed “great sympathy” for the athletes who had to wait for two years to get the final results from the competition.
Valieva’s disqualification will also affect the awarding of the silver and bronze medals. Japan, which finished third, would likely move to second. But even without Valieva’s scores, Russia could still move into third ahead of Canada.
The Americans who will take the gold medals are Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.
Bates said over the weekend that it simply took too long for the IOC to come to its decision.
“I think two years is too long for this resolution to be made, and we will possibly never know why it took so long,” Bates said. “We are ahead of a shutdown after a long era of waiting. “
The Russian government has criticized the decision.
“Of course, we don’t agree with this. From my point of view, of course, it’s politicized,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.