PARIS — Addison native Alexa Knierim and the 2022 U.S. figure skating team made Olympic history Wednesday, becoming the first Winter athletes to be awarded a gold medal at a Summer Games.
The 20-minute ceremony, conducted in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, came more than 900 days after the American squad competed in Beijing. No medals were awarded for the team figure skating event in China while officials tried to sort out a doping scandal involving a Russian skater.
Knierim – who competed there in pairs skating with partner Brandon Frazier — initially had been skeptical about the Paris presentation, doubting whether it could recreate the joy Olympians feel in the moments following a gold medal performance. In the end, the ceremony didn’t make up for everything they lost, Knierim said, but it gave the team something truly special.
“This is such a historic moment,” she said. “I was just looking around and thinking how nothing like this has ever happened. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be in front of the Eiffel Tower, in the sunshine and just be acknowledged with my teammates.”
As a Winter athlete, Knierim, 33, could not remember ever receiving a medal outside under the blistering sun. There were outdoor ceremonies in Beijing, but those were held in frigid temperatures with the winners wearing hats, gloves and winter coats.
The team had joked about what they were going to wear, with someone kidding they should wear their old figure skating costumes or puffy coats from Beijing. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, however, provided them with specially made, lightweight Nike tracksuits and matching shoes for the ceremony.
The figure skaters also were allowed to have their families with them, something that wouldn’t have happened if the ceremony had taken place in Beijing. Foreign spectators were not allowed to attend those Games because of the pandemic.
After watching her compete on television in 2022, Knierim’s parents and best friend were in Paris to see her receive the gold medal. She and her mom even got matching gold manicures before leaving Chicago.
“Before a competition, I would never do gold nails because I wouldn’t want to jinx it,” she said. “But I thought it was perfect for this occasion. There’s nothing to jinx anymore.”
The presentation had all the trappings of a traditional medal ceremony, with flowers and medals given by representatives of figure skating’s governing body and the International Olympic Committee. There were no podium or flag poles, however, so the skaters turned and watched a waving American flag on the stadium’s giant screen as the national anthem played.
Nine U.S. skaters received gold medals, including Knierim, Frazier, Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Madison Hubbell, Zachary Donohue and Vincent Zhou. The Japanese team received silver.
Held in Champions Park at the Trocadero, the ceremony lacked bronze medalists because Canada and Russia are currently locked in a legal battle over which country should rightfully receive them.
“I’m happy that we were able to have this moment, but nothing would have replaced the moment in Beijing, at our village, in our Olympic year, in the moment with the hype and excitement,” Knierim said. “And the pain that we’ve endured over these two and a half years will always be there.”
The U.S. team finished second to Russia in the team figure skating competition in Beijing, but the results came into question after it was revealed Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance at a national competition shortly before the Olympics.
As Valieva, then 15, and the Russian Olympic Committee tried to hang on to the medal in Beijing, they insisted the positive test was the result of her grandfather accidentally putting his heart medication into a strawberry dessert he served her.
Amid questions about her level of culpability given her age, the IOC did not hold a medal ceremony for the team event in Beijing. Instead, organizers gave the U.S. team empty medal boxes with a promise to fill them as soon as the winner was sorted out.
It took nearly two years for the committee to declare the Americans had won the competition. That decision was then immediately appealed, leaving the skaters to wonder if they would ever receive their medal.
Still, the team was told to block off Aug. 7 for a potential medal ceremony in Paris. As the day creeped closer and the appeal had not been decided, Knierim nearly gave up hope.
“I was already thinking, ‘alright, well, we’re not going to go to Paris. Where am I going to spend those three days that I’m not going to be there? Because I know I’m going to be sad.’”
A day prior to the opening ceremony, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal involving Valieva. The ruling cleared the way for the historic ceremony, even though the court is still considering a dispute as to whether the bronze should go to Canada or the Russian skaters other than Valieva.
Knierim initially said she would attend the ceremony to send a message about the importance of competing clean. She now believes that message was sent without overshadowing the moment.
“I was really just thinking about the amazing performances Brandon and I skated at the Olympic Games,” she said. “And I was able to really focus on the skating portion of this medal and not so much the doping situation, which was really gratifying and fulfilling. It brought me a lot of peace.”
As she walked out to receive her medal, Knierim said she thought about the programs she and Frazier performed in Beijing. She also recalled how he dropped his coffee and his gym bag so he could chase down a 5:30 a.m. shuttle to the rink because they couldn’t wait to get on the Olympic ice.
The partners — who went on to win the world championships in 2022 — have retired from competitive skating and had not seen each other in six months before reuniting in Paris.
Frazier works in finance in Southern California. Knierim has joined the staff at the Park Ridge-based Oakton Edge Skating Academy, where she teaches skaters of all ages and skill levels.
Before she left for Paris, Knierim said she reminded her students that she would be gone for a few days. One of them seemed genuinely surprised when she learned Knierim was going to get her gold medal.
“’Sometimes I forget how cool you are,’” Knierim recalled the skater saying.
Stung for the briefest of seconds, Knierim quickly decided she liked the comment.
“I kind of appreciated that more because it means she doesn’t take (lessons) from me because I’m an Olympic champion,” Knierim said. “It’s because she values me.”
