Evan Bates, the reigning world ice dance champion from the United States, expressed his deep frustration with the prolonged doping case of Russian skater Kamila Valieva, highlighting that the dream of claiming Olympic gold is a driving force that keeps him and his partner, Madison Chock, in the competitive arena.
Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in December 2021, but the result was only revealed the day after she helped Russia win the team gold at the Beijing Olympics in February 2022.
Bates, Chock and their American teammates who finished second in Beijing remain in limbo awaiting the outcome of the case, which the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Sept. 28 adjourned until November.
"The time that has passed since Beijing now is – what are we at, 20 months now?," Bates told reporters on a video call on Wednesday. "And I think that part is the most disappointing, frustrating."
"As an athlete who grew up dreaming of winning an Olympic medal, this was never part of the dream, this was never part of what we envisioned. That's the disappointing part."
Japan finished third and Canada fourth in Beijing, but there was no medal ceremony.
"We're the only ones from that team who are still competing, and it just represents sort of the brief span of an Olympic athlete's career and to have this amount of delay in receiving our medals and having our Olympic achievement recognized is incredibly frustrating," Bates said.
The skaters have had conversations with U.S. Figure Skating and the International Skating Union about potential medal ceremonies, Bates said, adding his best-case scenario would be to receive them at next year's Summer Olympics in Paris.
"That would be really special and still having an Olympic moment at an Olympic Games," Chock said. "I'd be happy to just be standing up there with our fellow Team USA athletes, no matter where we are, honestly and share that moment with our families."
The four-time world medallists had considered retiring after last season, and while they have not committed to competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics, they are not ready to quit yet.
They are taking part in Skate America from Oct. 20-22 in Allen, Texas, the season-opening ISU Grand Prix event.
"Our dream has been to stand on the podium and get the Olympic medal," Bates said.
"It'd be hard to walk away knowing that, despite having achieved the hard part of winning the Olympic medal, we didn't have that Olympic moment. You see so many montages of whether it's Michael Phelps or whoever, it may be having that emotional moment."
The ISU had lodged an appeal to CAS, sport's highest court after a Russian investigation found Valieva not guilty of a doping infraction despite acknowledging she failed a drug test.