According to her teammate, Brandon Frazier: "It's everything I hoped and dreamed about when starting this Olympic journey. To get to live a moment like that, it's indescribable. It's incredible."
A LONG ROAD It’s been exactly 912 days (two and a half years) since the event ended on February 7, 2022, but what followed was a long-running, controversial doping case involving Valieva, the then 15-year-old who had led the Russian team to victory. In January 2024, CAS handed Valieva a four-year ban and her Olympic results were disqualified, so Russia dropped from first place to third, with the USA and Japan moving up to first and second respectively.
SPECIAL FEELING Although Beijing 2022 does feel like a long time ago for the medallists and a lot has changed since then, nothing can dilute the beautiful feeling of finally having their medals placed around their necks in front of an amazing crowd, including their families and friends. There were tears and smiles in their eyes as the audience made them feel special while they walked down the Champions Park's runway to loud cheers. For 15 minutes, they soaked in a great deal of sun and an incredible atmosphere.
"Unbelievable," said Nathan Chen. "Of course, our Olympics was the Beijing Olympics, so it would have been cool to have it in Beijing, but at the same time, it's fortunate that we could celebrate a medal ceremony together at the Olympics.
"It's easily the warmest. The other ones are always freezing, we've got hand-warmers in our pockets. Here we're sweating, so it's a little different."
WORTH THE WAIT There was no podium, no flags were raised - the athletes faced a waving American flag displayed on a big screen as the American atnthem was being played, but the experience, they said, was worth the wait. Instead of receiving their medals in front of empty stands, they walked into a standing ovation at a stunning, packed Champions Park in the Trocadéro Gardens in Paris. There were chants of “USA, USA, USA” and the Japanese figure skaters thrilled the crowd with some acrobatic moves as they posed for photos."For one, we were able to have our family and friends present, because with Covid we couldn't. Two, it was worth the wait because we were bringing more attention to the injustice that sport has sometimes with doping," Knierim said.
For Japan's Tim Koleto: "These last two and a half years have been very long. In the situation in Beijing we were unable to have family and friends come in person to watch us compete and celebrate this moment with us, so it's such a super special moment to be able to celebrate alongside family and friends and our other competitors.
"For the first time in our lives we're sweating through our clothes here in the summer. To do it in front of the Eiffel Tower is something even in my wildest dreams I didn't imagine."
WHAT CHANGED? All nine American skaters came to Paris, including Evan Bates, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou. Three of them are still in school: Zhou, who has another year and a half left at Brown; men’s singles gold medalist Nathan Chen, who graduated from Yale this spring and is going for a post-graduate programme this fall; and women’s skater Karen Chen, who has a year to go at Cornell. Zhou, who is undergoing a summer internship, took a few days leave to be in Paris. Since their victory, Ice dancer Hubbell got married and had a baby. She is one of those currently coaching, while Chock and her partner, co-captain and new husband Bates are the only two still competing and have their eyes on the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Seven of the eight members of the Japan team came to get their silver medals: Wakaba Higuchi, Yuma Kagiyama, Ryuichi Kihara, Tim Koleto, Misato Komatsubara, Riku Miura, Kaori Sakamoto.
VALIEVA DOPING CASE At the Capital Gymnasium in Beijing in February 2022, the USA had finished behind the Russian Olympic Committee team, with Japan in third place, but shortly after the event there was an investigation into Valieva, had returned an adverse analytical finding for trimetazidine, a banned substance, during an anti-doping test at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in December 2021. Since Russia is not allowed at the Paris Olympics due to the war in Ukraine, their skaters did not take part in the medal ceremony on Wednesday.
"We all have our own personal opinion about what happened, but as for us we support clean sport and we're happy that everyone who worked their very best will be awarded medals. We believe that the athletes who competed under the rules will receive the reward for their efforts," Koleto remarked.
