President Trump Unveils 2028 Olympics Task Force
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly joins ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss President Donald Trump announcing a task force to organize logistics for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
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If and when U.S. Olympic gold medalist figure skating duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates take the ice at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February, they will be four years from seeing their gold initially go to an opponent later disqualified for doping violations.
Chock and Bates initially had to settle for team silver with their American teammates on the podium at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Team Russia and Kamila Valieva, who was 15 at the time, towered over them with their gold medals.
It was not until late January 2024, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found Valieva guilty of an anti-doping rule violation, that Chock, Bates and the United States were declared the rightful 2022 gold winners.
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Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee reacts during the women’s team free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics on February 7, 2022 in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance, during an anti-doping test at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in December 2021. She was suspended for four years and stripped of all competition results since that date.
Chock and Bates talked about what their message to Valieva would be today during an interview at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s media summit Tuesday.
“It’s hard, I think, to imagine what a 15-year-old has been through and under those kinds of situations,” Bates said. “And I know how stressful it is to be an elite athlete as an adult, as a 36-year-old. And I think grace should be given to people across the board. And we can never really know the whole situation, at least from our point of view. … I really don’t know what I would say to her.”
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Madison Chock and Evan Bates compete in the ice dance championship at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on January 27, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Chock added: “I just wanted to wish her well the way I would. I think life is short. And at the end of the day, we’re all human beings just going through our own human experience together. And regardless of what someone has or hasn’t done and how it’s affected you, I think it’s important to remember that we’re human as a collective and we’re all here on earth for this, and the same I want to have time to be healthy on earth. Life, filled with people who love them.”
Chock and Bates had to wait more than two years after the inaugural Olympics to get their rightful gold medals, and they were finally presented during a ceremony at the Paris Olympics last summer.
Members of the US Olympic figure skating team pose for a photo after receiving gold medals following the disqualification of Team Russia for doping after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at Champions Park in Paris. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Chock, Bates and teammates Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou were treated to a specialized gold medal ceremony to receive the medals in front of more than 13,000 fans.
“There’s an appreciation of the tough times a little bit more than, I think, what we had in the past. Where we recognize the value of every single moment, the good, the bad, and I don’t think you could change any of the experiences that we’ve had up to this point because everything has kind of come together in a way. It’s told us who we are as people and as a team.”
Chock and Bates became the first ice dancers to win three in a row world championships for nearly three decades in March when they defeated Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
