U.S. Olympic committee head says withholding medals 'unfair to the athletes'
IOC won't award medals from competitions involving Russian figure skater caught in doping drama
The leader of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee called the decision not to award American figure skaters the silver medal they won in the team competition an outcome that is "frankly, unfair to the athletes."
"There's no question that our team wants to go home with the medals in their hands," CEO Sarah Hirshland told The Associated Press in a video interview Thursday from Beijing. "That's just a reality we're all dealing with right now."
The International Olympic Committee has determined it will not award any medals from competitions involving Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian figure skater whose positive test for a banned substance was revealed after she led her team to the gold medal last week.
Hirshland called the meeting between Bach and the skaters "productive," but conceded it did not end with the result the U.S. wanted. Asked if the global anti-doping system was broken, the leader of the U.S. team said parts of it do work.
"And I think there are also components of the system that we still have a lot of reason to not trust entirely," Hirshland said. "We've got to make sure that this continues to improve."
WATCH | 15-year-old Kamila Valieva struggles in free skate, finishes 4th:
Hirshland said she met recently with figure skater Vincent Zhou. Hardly any single athlete has been through as much as he has over these past two weeks. Shortly after helping the U.S. finish second in the still-in-limbo team event, Zhou tested positive for COVID-19. He was forced to sit out of the men's event.
The USOPC was still trying to find some way for Zhou and company to head back to the United States with their medals. But time was running short and people are starting to pack up and head home.
One thing the doping case reminded Hirshland is that the USOPC and the IOC are not necessarily built to always get along.
"My job is to do what's best for Team USA and those in our country," Hirshland said. "And the IOC has 205 other countries ... and 55 international federations who have their own agendas. And so, we're going to have areas where we don't see exactly the same."
