Two Olympic figure skaters with state ties to receive gold medals
Doping scandal involving Russian Kamila Valieva changes winners
Two Olympic figure skaters with Connecticut ties will receive gold medals after Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified for doping at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, the Associated Press reported.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee got word that the IOC would award the gold to the U.S. for the team competition, which was thrown into unrest after Valieva’s positive test from six weeks before the competition was revealed.
Zach Donahue and Nathan Chen are among the Americans set to receive their gold medals. Donahue is a Madison native while Chen is pursuing a degree at Yale.
Donahue and his partner Madison Hubbell will receive gold for their performance for rhythm dance. The pair also won a bronze medal in the Ice Dance competition.
Chen had helped Team USA bring home the silver at the time, with a score of 111.71 in his short program during the team event.
The other Americans to receive gold medals are Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Madison Chock, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of an email sent from the IOC to the
USOPC saying it “is now in position to award the medals in accordance with the ranking, which has to be established by the International Skating Union” — the federation in charge of running the event at the Olympics.
The USOPC confirmed that CEO Sarah Hirshland had received the news that the Americans were declared the winners.
The medals were the first in Olympic competition for Donohue and Hubbell. They placed fourth at the 2018 Winter
Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
They were U.S. Ice Dance Medalists in 2012, and 2015-17. 3They also were named U.S. National Ice Dance Champions in 2018, 2019, and 2021, World Ice Dance Medalists in 2018, 2019, and 2021 and 2019 Grand Prix Final champions.
“I think two years is too long for this decision to be made, and we may never know why it has taken this long,” Bates said. “We’re just looking forward to getting some closure after a long waiting period.”
The IOC said it had “great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait for two years to get the final results of their competition. The IOC will contact the respective (national Olympic committees) in order to organize a dignified Olympic medal ceremony.”
There is no immediate word on where a medals ceremony would take place. The USOPC said it was starting the process of
finding a suitable time and place to award its skaters the gold.