President Trump reveals 2028 Olympics task force
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly joins “Fox & Friends First” to discuss President Donald Trump’s announcement of a task force to organize logistics for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
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If and when the American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Olympic gold medalists in figure skating, take the ice at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February, they will have four years before seeing their gold medal initially go to an opponent who was 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 then 15-year-old Kamila Valieva stood out with their gold medals.
It wasn’t until late January 2024, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found Valieva guilty of violating anti-doping rules, that Chock, Bates and the United States were declared legitimate 2022 gold medalists.
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Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee reacts during the women’s team free skating program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, February 7, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine during a doping test at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in December 2021. She has been suspended for four years and stripped of all her competitive results since that date.
Chock and Bates talked about what their message would be to Valieva today during an interview at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee media summit on Tuesday.
“I think it’s hard to imagine what a 15-year-old went through and in that kind of situation,” Bates said. “And I know how stressful it is to be an elite athlete as an adult, at 36 years old. And I think grace should be given to humans at all levels. And we can never really know the full picture, at least from our perspective. … I really don’t know what I would say to him.”
US FIGURE SKATING CHAMPION ALYSA LIU REVEALS TARGETED BY CHINESE SPY OPERATION
Madison Chock and Evan Bates compete in the ice dance championships at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on January 27, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Chock added, “I would just wish him well as I would. I think life is short. And, at the end of the day, we’re all humans just going through our own human experience together. And no matter what anyone did or didn’t do and how it affected you, I think it’s important to remember that we are humans as a collective, and we’re all here for this, our only time on earth, at the same time. And I just wish people had a healthy, happy life, full of people who love them.”
Chock and Bates had to wait more than two years after the first Olympics to get their rightful gold medals, and they were finally presented to them in a ceremony at the Paris Olympics last summer.
Members of the U.S. Olympic figure skating team pose for a photo after receiving gold medals following the Russian team’s disqualification for doping following 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 for tough times a little bit more than, I think, what we’ve experienced in the past. Where we recognize the value of every moment, the good and the bad, and I think I don’t think you can change any of these experiences that we’ve had so far because it’s all kind of come together in a way. It’s made us who we are as people and as a team,” Chock said.
Chock and Bates became the first ice dancers to win three consecutive times world championships in nearly three decades in March when they beat Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
