U.S. figure skater Vincent Zhou said he just couldn’t watch his teammates compete in the men’s short program at the Beijing Winter Olympics after he was forced to withdraw from the event after testing positive for COVID-19.“It was too emotionally difficult,” Zhou said Wednesday after leaving isolation.“It also was difficult to see the results, because I knew I could medal,” he added. “I’d been training consistently at a level to score like that and win a bronze medal. It was a difficult day for me.”Zhou, 21, tested positive for the coronavirus soon after helping the U.S. team to silver on the first Monday of the Beijing Games. That medal may be upgraded after it was revealed that Kamila Valieva, a member of Russia’s gold medal-winning team, tested positive for a banned drug in December.In a tearful video message following his diagnosis, Zhou said he’d “taken all the precautions” possible and had “isolated myself so much that the loneliness I’ve felt in the last month or two has been crushing at times.”Sent into quarantine, Zhou missed the men’s event ultimately won by U.S. teammate Nathan Chen. He is slated to return to the ice Sunday for the Games’ exhibition gala, though.
