BEIJING — Karen Chen had less than an hour to celebrate her dream before she returned to the nightmare. Shortly before the U.S. sealed a silver medal in the team figure skating event Monday, her teammates learned that Vincent Zhou, who had placed third in the men’s free skate a day earlier, had tested positive for COVID-19.
But Chen was due to perform in the women’s free skate, so no one told her. She finished fourth, locking in the result: 74 points for Russia, 65 for the U.S., 63 for Japan. She changed into her medal-ceremony uniform. She lined up to proceed onto the ice for the ceremony. And she realized someone was missing.
“Before we got on [to the podium] I was like, ‘Where’s Vincent? Where’s Vincent?’” she said. “But I figured he was probably putting on his skates or something. I didn’t think that was the reason.”
