American figure skaters receive reallocated gold medals in Paris

The Manila Times

American figure skaters receive reallocated gold medals in Paris   American figure skaters, who had competed at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, received reallocated gold medals in Paris on Wednesday, August 7, saying they were relieved that the long legal battle and emotional rollercoaster had finally come to a conclusion two-and-a-half years after.   At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, the American figure skating team finally experienced the golden moment they were denied in Beijing when it emerged that Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old who had helped the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to gold in the team event, had tested positive for a banned drug.   Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned drug that prevents angina, at the Russian national championships in December 2021 in the run-up to Beijing. Her team said the positive test could have been due to a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication.   The result of the positive doping test was made known only a day after she helped the ROC to win gold in the team event in Beijing.   REUTERS VIDEO   Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein    #TheManilaTimes  #tmtnews  #paris2024  #figureskating  #wintergames

Transcript

00:00I mean certainly there was a it was a very long time but at the same time I

00:06think what I'm most proud about this team is the way that we're able to

00:09perform that we went to the Olympics we you know strategize we trained very well

00:13and then went to the Olympics put down great programs and that for that I'm the

00:17most proud and then I'm also really impressed the way the rest of team USA

00:20carried themselves during this period of time where there was so much unknown and

00:24just very thankful for all the people that helped us and helped you know get

00:27us to this position. It is a very interesting situation and you know our

00:30wish as a team was just to be able to have a celebration together and then

00:34also at an Olympics and so you know fortunately this is the closest Olympics

00:38to our our Olympics and it would have been really special of course to have in

00:42Beijing the ceremony was amazing there as well but of course you know having at

00:46the base of the Eiffel Tower was not that either. I'm so thrilled that they're

00:49coming to the U.S. back to the U.S. and particularly Salt Lake City. I think

00:53having been a young kid during the 2002 Olympics and recognizing firsthand the

00:58impact of what an Olympics can do to a town I'm super thrilled to or super

01:02excited to see what the Olympics will do for the next generation of winter

01:05athletes and just you know Salt Lake City is such a deserving spot their

01:09infrastructure is amazing and they're just very very ready for an Olympics so

01:13I'm really excited to see it see it happen in 2034. I would say you know life

01:18has moved on since then I've been keeping busy I've been going to school

01:21studying and and doing things you know meeting new people making new friends

01:25and all that so and I also had the 2022 World Championships where I ended up

01:30winning a medal there and that sort of gave me some closure to what happened at

01:34the 2022 Olympics just a month before that but in terms of the the legal case

01:39surrounding doping and and the medal allocation for the team event that's

01:43been always been there and everyone's been asking me about it that certainly

01:47hasn't helped me forget it but but you know I think finally now we can get

01:51some get some closure for for this specific medal allocation but in the

01:56broader scale the fight for clean sport continues I mean I'm not really in

02:00charge of making those decisions and and I don't really know what's going on over

02:05here but what I do know is that my team and I care deeply about clean sport we

02:11are you know we are strong standing strong in the face of all that's going

02:17on clearly and we're you know committed to the future of clean sport. I think it

02:24was very emotional and overwhelming at the same time but I think that's the one

02:29thing that made this so amazing in 2022 there was COVID so we weren't able to

02:34have like family or an audience and to have an audience while we got our medals

02:38and of course family and friends too was pretty incredible. I think it was a

02:43little bit weird when we were going through security someone asked us like

02:47oh what sport and we said figure skating and they're like oh what but it just

02:51made this moment really special and just one-of-a-kind.

Category

Transcript

Recommended