BEIJING — Should Canada win an Olympic medal in team figure skating at the Beijing Games, it won't be awarded on a podium. There will be no flowers or Maple Leaf being raised.
The eight-team Canadian squad that finished fourth in the team event, but could be bumped up to bronze amid a doping scandal, will likely be long gone from Beijing when that decision is made.
It would be an Olympic moment stolen, particularly for the all-but-two Canadians who've never climbed an Olympic podium.
But Canadian pairs skater Michael Marinaro felt worse for the other teams affected.
"I think I'm more frustrated for the Japanese team we train with (Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara) and some of the Americans, Brandon (Frazier) and Alexa (Knierim), we're extremely close friends with them. I'm more upset that they lost their moment," said Marinaro, who skated in pairs with partner Kirsten Moore-Towers.
Eight Canadian skaters were on the team that was fourth back on Feb. 7. They could be upgraded to a bronze medal if Russian teen phenom Kamila Valieva is disqualified for a positive drug test before the Olympics.
No medal ceremony was held for the top three teams -- Russia, the U.S., and Japan -- as news of her positive test emerged.
The Canadian team also included Roman Sadovsky (men's singles), Madeline Schizas (women's singles), Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (ice dance), and Vanessa James and Eric Radford (pairs).
"I feel for the athletes who are going to go home without medals, the ones who are not really wrapped up in this whole debacle, who have nothing to do with this. I feel for them," Schizas said. "But at this point, it is what it is. These things happen. It's our job as athletes to just kind of deal with them. I have a lot of empathy for the people going home without a medal. When you medal at the Olympics, that's the moment you dream of."
Moore-Towers was part of the Canadian team that won silver in 2014 in Sochi, while Radford has three Olympic medals, including gold in the team event four years ago in Pyeongchang.
But Radford's partner hasn't stood on an Olympic podium, she preferred not to think of the events of Beijing as a stolen moment.
"There are so many circumstances, it could have been different, it could have been the same. But I think Canada did the best that they could," James said. "And whether it gets a medal or doesn't, everyone can be very proud of their performances and what we did together.
"It's not something that I'm waiting for, depending on, I think that Skate Canada can be, and Team Canada can be very proud of our performance ... it's still an experience for the next. So, there's a lot that all of the skaters can take back and learn from."
The Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared Valieva to skate in women's singles, partly because at 15, she's a minor. But had she finished in the top three, there would have been no medal ceremony since the results, like in the team event, would be pending an investigation.
But Valieva fell twice in an error-filled free skate on Thursday, and sobbed as she learned she'd finished fourth. The dramatic scene had the skating world decrying the Russian program, and particularly Valieva's coach Eteri Tutberidze.
"I just it hope it can bring about positive change in the sport in a way," Radford said of how the women's event played out.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach offered U.S. figure skaters Olympic torches as holdover gifts until they get their Olympic medals. The Japanese team said they accepted a holdover gift from the IOC as well.
The Canadian Olympic Committee expressed disappointment in how things were handled.
"The situation that has unfolded with respect to the Russian figure skating athlete's doping case is extremely unfortunate and sad for the athletes," COC president Tricia Smith said in a statement. "The COC is fully committed to clean sport and we firmly believe that no one involved in doping or other corrupt practices has a place in the Olympic Movement."
The Valieva doping scandal is the biggest in Olympic skating since the 2002 Salt Lake Games that eventually saw Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier awarded pairs gold amid allegations the judging was fixed in favour of Russian team of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.
That judging scandal led to an overhaul of the entire scoring system.
-- With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2022.
Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press
