Vincent Zhou of Crew United States reacts with teammates following his skate within the Males Single Skating Free Skating Crew Occasion on day two of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Video games at Capital Indoor Stadium on February 06, 2022 in Beijing, China. Zhou examined constructive for COVID-19 and has withdrawn from additional competitions on the Beijing Olympics. (Photograph by Catherine Ivill/Getty Photographs)
As the united statesFigure Skating staff celebrated its silver medal Monday morning in Beijing, one Bay Space skater was in search of one other.
“The place’s Vincent?” Karen Chen questioned.
By then, Vincent Zhou was both in an isolation room or on his method to one after testing constructive for the coronavirus.
There could be no celebration of the silver medal that Chen, the Fremont native, clinched for the united statesteam together with her efficiency. There could be no extra competitors for Zhou. The San Jose native who grew up in Palo Alto was scheduled to compete for particular person medals Monday evening.
Zhou, 21, broke the information in a tearful five-minute video posted to Instagram on Monday evening. 
“The enormity of the scenario, the ache of all of it is fairly insane, however I do acknowledge that this totally doesn't outline me as an athlete, as an individual,” he stated within the video.
“For this to occur to Vincent a day earlier than the person males’s occasion,” former South Bay Olympian Polina Edmonds advised NBC, “I can’t think about what he’s going via. However I do know that he’s positively nonetheless in a state of shock.”
Zhou wasn’t the one Bay Space athlete whose alternative slipped away in disturbing vogue Monday: Alpine skier Nina O’Brien, a San Francisco native who trains in Tahoe, crashed simply earlier than reaching the end line of the large slalom course on her second run.
O’Brien appeared to undergo a left leg harm within the fall and was taken off the course on a stretcher, although the U.S. ski and snowboard staff stated she was “alert and responsive”. Her first run was sixth-fastest within the discipline and he or she was thought-about Crew USA’s finest wager for a medal after Mikaela Shiffrin was eradicated for lacking a gate on her personal first run.
Zhou had struggled via a poor free skate within the staff competitors the day earlier than his constructive check, ending third for the eventual silver medalists.
“Whereas it was all the time my dream to medal on an Olympic stage, which I did earlier than this occurred, the general dream was simply to skate,” he stated in his Instagram video.
When Zhou was 8 years previous, his mom give up her pc science job and moved with him to Riverside to coach with coach Tammy Gambill within the pursuit of that dream. Since then, the journey has taken Zhou to Colorado Springs for coaching and ultimately around the globe to compete, together with Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Video games.
He completed sixth within the males’s program there, however grew to become the primary to ever efficiently full a quadruple lutz throughout an Olympics. Within the buildup to Beijing, Zhou completed within the high two of each his Grand Prix assignments, probably bolstering his medal outlook previous to Monday’s exams.
He stated he had misplaced rely of what number of instances he cried since listening to the check end result, however one session was filled with “completely happy tears” when he realized he and his staff had gained the silver medal.
Underneath Olympic protocols, Zhou would have been taken to an “isolation heart” instantly upon testing constructive. He’ll be required to isolate and examined every day till he reveals two unfavourable PCR outcomes a minimum of 24 hours aside and reveals no signs of sickness. The isolation facilities have been the topic of criticism, citing points with the meals in addition to the cleanliness of the rooms.
Organizers have touted Beijing’s “closed loop” system, which requires every day screening and testing for athletes and everybody else contained in the bubble, however greater than 100 athletes have examined constructive, in response to Yahoo Sports activities.
Crew USA’s chief medical officer stated final month that every one American athletes had been vaccinated.
“It appears fairly unreal that of all of the individuals it will occur to myself,” he stated within the video. “And that’s not simply because I’m nonetheless processing this flip of occasions, but in addition as a result of I've been doing every part in my energy to remain freed from COVID for the reason that begin of the pandemic. I’ve taken all of the precautions I can. I’ve remoted myself a lot that the loneliness that I felt within the final month or two has been crushing at instances.”
A number of of Zhou’s teammates advised reporters that they had been stunned he had examined constructive, as he ate meals alone and wore N95 masks.
Now, there's some nervousness inside the U.S. skating contingent that others could have been uncovered to the virus and will miss their very own alternatives. 
“Clearly, every part now's simply hypothesis: When did he get it? Who did he get it from? Who has he been round?” Nathan Chen, the favourite for males’s particular person gold, stated. “I personally have probably not been round him, and anytime I’ve been round, I’ve been sporting a masks.” 
Zhou’s message included a pep speak of types to himself, reminding himself of how lucky he's — and the way onerous he labored — to be in Beijing within the first place, even when he's now remoted there.
“To the longer term Vincent watching this, your youthful self could be so pleased with the athlete and particular person you’ve change into now,” he stated. “Little 8-year-old you'll be asking 21-year-old you for photographs and autograph. why? Since you lived out your desires. You grew to become the particular person you all the time aspired to be.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.