TWO YEARS LATER...

U.S. Figure Skaters Finally Receive Gold Medals From Beijing—in Paris

The Olympians had waited years after a Russian doping scandal kept them off the podium.

A group of American and Japanese figure skaters finally received their medals from the 2022 Winter Olympics on Wednesday, two and half years after a doping scandal kept them from the podium in Beijing. Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Karen Chen, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbel, Zachary Donohue, Madison Chock, and Evan Bates received gold medals, up from silver, and their Japanese colleagues got silver medals, up from bronze, under the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Olympics. Their medals were delayed after Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, then 15, won gold in 2022 after testing positive for a banned heart medication. The Court of Arbitration for Sport finally ruled against Valieva in January 2024 and stripped her of her medal, giving the gold to the U.S. skating team and silver to Japan. “My parents didn’t get to share the Beijing [men’s gold] medal with me so it’s cool to be able to have this alternative that now allows us to have a chance to have my family in attendance,” Nathan Chen told USA Today, adding that his “whole family” had traveled with him to Paris.