Figure skater Vincent Zhou trained his entire life to earn an Olympic medal, a goal he achieved at the 2022 Beijing Olympics when the United States placed silver in the team competition.
A year later, Zhou and his teammates are still waiting for their medal — and to hear whether it will be silver or gold.
The Russian figure skating team that won the gold in Beijing is under scrutiny for alleged doping, and if Russia is found to have used performance-enhancing drugs, it could be stripped of the medal. If that happens, the U.S. team could be awarded the gold.
“While the medals themselves are missing, it’s representative of a bigger issue, the issue on how doping impacts clean sport and the Olympics,” Zhou said in a recent interview.
One year ago, 15-year-old Kamila Valieva led the Russian Olympic Committee to victory in the event with an awe-inspiring performance as she became the first woman to land quadruple jumps in Olympic competition.
But that same day, a World Anti-Doping Agency laboratory confirmed that Valieva had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug just two months previous, on Dec. 25, 2021.
The drug, trimetazidine, is usually prescribed to treat chest pain, but it can also help athletes perform at higher heart rates for an extended period of time. The World Anti-Doping Agency first banned trimetazidine in 2014.
“For the sample to have sat in the laboratory, not to have been expedited and reported in a timely fashion for her (Valieva) to be able to compete on Feb. 7 … was just a terrible tragedy and oversight and failure of the system,” said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
“The worst-case scenario is sending an athlete who has a pending positive to a major international competition.”
Zhou said he and his teammates are growing increasingly frustrated as they wait for the World Anti-Doping Agency to decide what to do next after the Russian Anti-Doping Agency ruled last month that Valieva was not guilty…
Read the full article here
