Olympics-U.S. and Japan figure skaters receive Beijing medals in Paris in long-awaited ceremony

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

PARIS (Reuters) -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 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 feeling," said American skater Vincent Zhou. "So to actually have it around my neck now, I don't know how to process it."

The highest court in sport in January found Valieva guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation, stripping the ROC of its gold medal in the event.

Valieva, the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Olympics -- doing it during the team event -- was allowed to compete in the singles despite the news of the positive test. She had been favourite to win the Olympic title but missed out on an individual medal after dropping to fourth place with an error-laden free skate.

In its revision of the Beijing results, the International Skating Union demoted the Russian team from gold to bronze after Valieva's disqualification, leaving Canada -- the fourth-place finishers -- disgruntled and off the podium. Japan moved up from bronze to silver.

Despite their frustration over the delayed medals ceremony, the skaters expressed gratitude that the medals were finally with their rightful recipients, and that the setting -- in front of an exuberant audience -- made up for the long wait.

"I'm so thankful that we've been given this stage," said Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, who also won an individual bronze medal in Beijing, held without spectators during the pandemic.

"It was the kind of ceremony that none of us had ever quite experienced, so we were all getting high and giddy right before it started. We had such a great time," she said.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Sophie Penney and Miguel Pereira; Additional reporting by Irene Wang, Nathan Frandino and Chang-Ran KimEditing by Clare Fallon)