US and Japan figure skaters receive Beijing medals in Paris in long-awaited ceremony

PARIS: Two-and-a-half years after competing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, American and Japanese figure skaters stepped on to the podium in Paris on Wednesday (Aug 7) to receive reallocated gold and silver medals, drawing a line under a Russian doping saga that rocked those Games.

Against the backdrop 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.

"It's almost surreal. We got our medals, and I turned around and I saw the Eiffel Tower, and I was just blown away," said ice dancer Madison Chock, who partners Evan Bates. "It took my breath away."

The ceremony took place at Champions Park, a venue set up in Trocadero Gardens, facing the iconic tower, where athletes can celebrate their medals on stage with fans.

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.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided no medals for the team figure skating event would be presented until Valieva's case had been resolved.

The legal battle that ensued caused other teams to remain in limbo for years, wondering if they would ever see the medals they had won in Beijing.

"I've gone so long without knowing if this was ever going to happen that I almost got used to that