This year's Olympic athletes won't be the only ones receiving medals during the Summer Games in Paris. Winter athletes will descend upon the European city to claim hardware denied to them during the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
Following a January decision that stripped the Russian figure skaters of their team event gold medal due to the Kamila Valieva doping scandal, the United States and Japan have been confirmed as the respective gold and silver medal winners just a day before the 2024 Games are set to begin.
The nine U.S. skaters will receive their gold medals in Paris after over a two year wait. But what exactly happened to Valieva and how did that lead to the United States finishing on top? Here's everything you need to know.
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Why are USA figure skaters are receiving their 2022 Olympic medals in Paris?
A Russian appeal against the January decision to ban Valieva for four years and strip the team of its gold medal was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the Thursday before the start of the Paris Olympics. This confirmed Team USA as the official gold medalists for the team event from the 2022 Beijing Games, finally allowing its skaters to receive their hardware.
And what better time to award belated medals than at yet another Olympic Games? Both Team USA and Japan, which won the silver medal following the January ruling, are set to be honored on August 7 in Paris, exactly two-and-a-half years to the day after the competition ended in Beijing.
There is still an active dispute between Canada, who finished fourth behind the Russians after the standings were adjusted, and CAS, where the country is seeking the bronze medal it feels it missed out on.
Kamila Valieva doping scandal
Valieva was on her way to figure skating stardom after becoming the first woman to complete a quadruple jump at an Olympic team figure skating competition, helping Russia win gold in the 2022 event over the United States. All of that came crashing down when a day later it was announced she had tested positive for trimetazidine in a doping test from December, prior to the Beijing Games.
The CAS, in a controversial decision, allowed Valieva to continue competing at the Olympics. She finished fourth in the women's singles competition, an event in which she was expected to win gold, and the medal ceremony for the team competition was postponed.
Nearly two years later, in January 2024, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) banned Valieva for four years for doping, effective from December 2021. The decision stripped the teenage figure skater of all her medals and awards dating back to the positive test in addition to Russia's gold medal from the team event.
The International Skating Union, after the ban decision, announced that Team USA would receive the gold medal, Japan the silver and Russia the bronze, still finishing in the top three. Russia appealed the decisions, but the complaints were dismissed and the results confirmed the day before the 2024 Paris Games' Opening Ceremonies.
MORE: Kamila Valieva Olympics doping case, explained
2022 US Olympic figure skating team roster
Here are the nine figure skaters who will be receiving their gold medals on Aug. 7 in Paris:
- Nathan Chen
- Vincent Zhou
- Karen Chen
- Alexa Knierim
- Brandon Frazier
- Madison Chock
- Evan Mates
- Madison Hubbell
- Zachary Donohue
2022 Olympic team figure skating final standings
| Rank | Country | Results |
| 1. | USA | 65 |
| 2. | Japan | 63 |
| 3. | Russia | 54 |
| 4. | Canada | 53 |
| 5. | China | 50 |
| 6. | Georgia | 22 |
| 7. | Italy | 20 |
| 8. | Czech Republic | 15 |
| 9. | Germany | 8 |
| 10. | Ukraine | 8 |
MORE: Day-by-day TV coverage to watch Team USA at 2024 Paris Games
