An Olympic roller coaster for Palo Alto’s Zhou

Vincent Zhou, who has lived in Palo Alto most of his life, is the silver medalist in team figure skating — for now. The San Jose native could, eventually, receive a gold medal if Valieva is banned for her positive doping test, taken in December but not analyzed until February. That would disqualify the “winning” Russian team, for which she was the top scoring women’s figure skater.

The nine U.S. figure skaters who took silver in the Team Event lost their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s Ad Hoc Division in Beijing to have their medals presented at the Games.

They will have to wait for the outcome of the Valieva drug case, which will determine the “final” color of the medals. Any presentation ceremony, however, will not be at the Olympic Games.

Zhou had a whirlwind two-week roller coaster experience in Beijing, earning an opening weekend medal for his free skate performance in the team event. But not did he not receive it, he was banned from the singles competition for a positive COVID-19 test. After quarantining for most of the two weeks, Zhou was allowed to perform at the closing figure skating gala, but then was excluded from closing ceremoni

He was clearly frustrated after being excluded from celebrating with his fellow USA teammates and friends on the final night.

“I won’t be marching in the closing ceremony tonight,” Zhou wrote on Instagram. “Before boarding the bus to the stadium, they flagged me as a COVID ‘close contact’ risk and would not allow me to proceed further. I have tested negative 14 times in a row. I have antibodies and am not contagious whatsoever.

“I am 100% healthy and normal. I am double masked and would be walking outdoors with the same people I am about to travel with, in a couple hours.

“I was required to take my mask off when taking the ice for the Gala earlier today with 40 other people who were also maskless, indoors. But it seems that being double masked outdoors is riskier. I have followed the rules and done as required with no question for as long as the rules have existed.”

Although unclear why he had been tagged as a close contact after being unmasked for the gala, Zhou showed grace with his concluding comments.

“It has been the honor of my life to represent Team USA at the 2022 Beijing Olympics alongside my incredible teammates. I am endlessly grateful for the opportunities that came my way during these games,” he wrote.

Zhou had no idea how he contracted the virus.

“I’ve been one of the most careful people,” he said in a media interview Feb. 16, after being released from isolation. “I was taking lots of precautions. I tried to eat away from people, chew with my mask on…I don’t know how I got it. I controlled the things I could…Sometimes bad things happen.”

He said he believed he could have won the bronze medal in the men’s singles competition.

Other medalist with Palo Alto ties included:

• Incoming 18-year-old Stanford freshman Eileen Gu, a recent graduate of San Francisco’s University High, was host China’s star with two gold medals and one silver in freestyle skiing. Although a lifelong resident of San Francisco, she competed for her mother’s native country, helping China score its highest ever medal total, 15.

• Palo Alto native Hilary Knight, 32, was the high scorer for the USA’s silver medal winning women’s hockey team in Beijing. She scored the first American goal in the 3-2 gold medal game loss to Canada.