U.S. figure skater Vincent Zhou, in a tearful video message released on Instagram, talked about the “crushing” loneliness of having to isolate ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics only to test positive for COVID-19 and be forced to withdraw prematurely from the Beijing Games.
Zhou, 21, described his diagnosis as “pretty unreal” because “I’ve been doing everything in my power to stay free of COVID since the start of the pandemic.”
“I’ve taken all the precautions I can,” he said. “I’ve isolated myself so much that the loneliness I’ve felt in the last month or two has been crushing at times. The enormity of the situation, the … just … the pain of it all.”
Zhou won silver as part of the men’s team event on Sunday. He had been scheduled to compete in the men’s short program Tuesday.
Closing the 5-minute message, the Olympian said he’d “close this out before I become even more of an emotional wreck.”
“I’ve already lost count of the number of times I’ve cried today,” he added. “But I’m happy to say that at least one of those times was happy tears and that was when I found out that I became an Olympic silver medalist."
