Vincent Zhou.Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty
Team USA’sVincent Zhouis opening up about being forced to withdraw from the men’s individual figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.
In anappearanceon theTodayshow Tuesday, the 21-year figure skater discussed his emotions about the positive test with hosts Carson Daly,Savannah Guthrie,Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker.
“There’s a mixed bag of emotions obviously, but I’m still processing everything and letting things flow … I’m using all the mental tactics that I learned to handle competition pressure and different circumstances and applying them now,” he said, video chatting in from Beijing.
NBC News/Today
The Olympic silver medalisttested positivefor COVID-19 over the weekend, after competing as part of the figure skating team competition. He was scheduled to participate in the men’s short program on Tuesday morning in Beijing and needed to test negative twice to skate.
In his appearance onToday, Zhou revealed he still has no COVID-19 symptoms.
“I was asymptomatic all up until the sudden positive test so it definitely did come as a shock,” he said. “Right now I would say I am 99% asymptomatic still.”
He also said he hopes to recover quickly as the Figure Skating World Championships draw near.
“I will be hoping to make a quick recovery and represent Team USA with all my best,” he added.
Zhou posted an emotional message in an InstagramvideoMonday about testing positive.
“It seems pretty unreal that of all the people, it would happen to myself,” he said in the video. “And that’s not just because I’m still processing this turn of events but also because I have been doing everything in my power to stay free of COVID since the start of the pandemic.”
He continued, “I’ve isolated myself so much that the loneliness I’ve felt in the last month or to has been crushing at times. The enormity of the situation, just the pain of it all is pretty insane.”
To learn more about Team USA, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics, now, and the Paralympics, beginning March 4, on NBC.
source: people.com
