It’s official, Team USA posted on social media: “The 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Team athletes have been awarded the gold medal in the team event at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.” This is the first time the U.S. won gold in the team event.

Nearly two years ago, the team originally placed in second, winning the silver medal, but Russian skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified for using a cardiac medication, trimetazidine, which is considered a performance enhancement drug.

The final ruling came from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the International Skating Union (ISU) announced that Valieva’s 20 earned points would be stripped from the Russian Olympic Committee team’s total, moving them down from 74 points to 54 points and leaving them in the bronze medal category.

The U.S. team had 65 points, which now, is enough for the gold medal and Japan’s 63 points moves them from bronze into the silver slot. 

The CAS also disqualified all of Valieva’s performances dating back to December 2021 and has banned her from the sport until 2025.

The 9 U.S. gold medal athletes are: Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Brandon Frazier, Zachary Donohue, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim, and Vincent Zhou.

Sarah Hirshland, head of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said this is a win for clean, drug-free sports. She stated, “This is a celebration… It’s also about having hope that a system is growing and improving, insuring that all athletes from around the world can count on showing up to compete on a level playing field.”

The Russian Olympic Committee will “definitely” be appealing the results.

By - SC