Vincent Zhou cheer thread

[Sylvia]

5-minute emotional video message just now by Vincent about his withdrawal from the Men's event due to his positive covid test : https://www.instagram.com/p/CZrh0jbgDYU/

I posted on his Instagram. How heartwarming to see messages from Kristi Yamaguchi, Johnny Weir, Brian Boitano and many other skaters too.

Since @bardtoob's GSD thread got moved to the Olympics forum in the Kiss & Cry section, I've copied-and-pasted some of the many supportive messages from the comments section (now over 5300+ and counting!) of Vincent's Instagram post into this thread too.

This one -- written by Stephanee Grosscup (young Nathan Chen's first skating instructor in Salt Lake City and the choreographer of Stephanie Rosenthal's memorable "Rockit" SP at 2006 Nationals) -- was especially touching and on point, I thought:

No words can remedy this tragic situation or heal your broken heart. And yet right now words are all we have to share. So... please know this goes into your history book. It is a chapter of your story. One that moves so many of us to tell you how loved you are. How much we are hurting for you. This chapter indeed will lead to the next and I/ we will be reading and watching your story unfold. You are a champion amongst men. An athlete and and artist. A scholar and a force of nature. You are right. This moment does not define you. You are so much more than this. I look forward to your next chapter. Heal swiftly.

More from the figure skating community:

Johnny Weir:
You are so admired & appreciated Vincent. Hold your head high.

Liza Tuktamysheva:
… you will become more stronger!

Ashley Wagner:
You are an athlete that has shined very brightly throughout your career Vincent! I am absolutely heartbroken for you, everything you’re feeling is completely valid. Just know you have a huge community behind you

Kristi Yamaguchi:
Heartbroken for you @govincentzhou but you are a warrior and champion AND an Olympic silver medalist. Get healthy and I know from your message that you will be back stronger than ever.

Brian Boitano:
So sorry Vincent. You are a champ.

Michelle Kwan:
Thinking of you, Vincent. Keep your head held high and get better quickly. As you said, this does not define you. You’ve accomplished so much already and I can’t wait to continue to cheer you on for the years to come

Karen Chen:
seriously so incredibly heartbroken about this. you are so loved & we all miss you. please stay strong

Alysa Liu:
So sorry that happened to you. So glad that you were part of my olympic experience!! Hope you recover fast and we’ll miss you

Camden Pulkinen:
Can’t believe this still. Keep your head up!

Florent Amodio (moment4life1990):
UNREAL PERIOD !!
so sorry for you your family and your team.
Everyone knows how great you are.
We will always support you.
Stay safe.

Polina Edmunds
Hang in there Vincent!

Jean-Luc Baker


Kiira Korpi:


Alex Kam:
Keep your chin up brother you’ve inspired me and so many others and will continue to do so. Take care champ

Zach Donohue:
Sending you love and prayers brother

Evgenia Medvedeva (jmedvedevaj):
Stay strong man

Tim Koleto:
I’m so so heartbroken for you. I know how diligent you have been on practices back home. Hugs to you.

Coach Michelle Hong:
It’s been amazing to see the level of tenacity you had as a child grow even more as a young adult @govincentzhou You made your childhood dreams come true!

Sean Rabbitt:
We are all here for you! Rest up get well and know we all support you

(Tzu-Han) Anna Ting:
I feel sorry about the situation
Please take care and keep going after what you love

Ashley (Shan) Lin:
so heartbreaking nothing but support for you

Mark Kondratiuk (@ninety.ninth):


Liza Khudaiberdieva:
Don’t have any words….
Just so heartbroken, can’t even imagine how you feelings and no one deserves to be in this situation…be strong

Ting Cui:
This is heartbreaking I know it's not what you want but you should be proud of everything you have accomplished so far, with even more to come. Your resilience is inspiring to us all.

Yebin Mok:
So Heartbroken for you! Completely unfair curve ball of life. But I believe this was for something even greater than we can imagine. Stay strong you’ve been incredible. You are incredible.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Elladj Balde opened his Instagram Story today with a heartfelt tribute to Vincent Zhou. He spoke about how how crazy hard he saw Zhou working -- all day on quads -- when Zhou was young and they were training together.

 

[livetoskate]

Any news on how Vincent is doing? I checked Instagram last night & didn't see anything.

 

[Allskate]

Any news on how Vincent is doing? I checked Instagram last night & didn't see anything.

Yes! Finally. He was on Olympic Ice today. Ashley Wagner interviewed him. He just got out of isolation. Yay! Also, more importantly, he really does seem to be in a much better state of mind. A lot of people contacted him while he was in isolation. He was worried about all the lost ice time, but was able to do off ice training in isolation and is looking forward to Worlds.

 

[livetoskate]

Great news. I also saw Vincent on Olympic Ice today. What a relief. Hopefully, he'll have enough practice time so he can feel confident doing a gala performance. This has been a really strange Olympics.

 

[briancoogaert]

Good news ! So weird Olympics...

 

[Allskate]

Vincent has been invited to perform in the Gala. I know it won't make up for missing the men's event, but I'm happy that he will be able to have this experience.

 

[DreamSkates]

I also saw the interview and he was touched by how many people reached out to him with encouragement. He didn't know so many people cared. I hope he carries that support with him to Worlds and jumps, spins, etc. his way to the podium.

 

[Sylvia]

AP article:

US skater Vincent Zhou out of weeklong COVID-19 quarantine

BEIJING (AP) — American figure skater Vincent Zhou is out of quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 at the Beijing Games, and he plans to perform in the exhibition gala that traditionally closes the Olympic program on Sunday.

apnews.com

There were some much better moments during his quarantine period, including a supportive message he received from singer Josh Groban, who performs the music that Zhou uses during his free skate [short program].
Zhou still doesn’t know how he contracted the virus, especially given the care he took leading up to competition. He said he used hand sanitizer by the pint, lived a loner lifestyle and wore a mask everywhere he went, including the dining hall, where he would slip it back over his mouth in between bites of food.
“I don’t want to sound like a broken record,” he said, “but everything short of moving to Antarctica, I’ve taken precautions. I think it’s just really unfortunate. A stroke of bad luck. I honestly don’t know how I got it.”

After performing in the exhibition gala Sunday, Zhou plans to return to the U.S. and prepare for the world championships the final week of March in Montpellier, France. He also plans to tour with Stars on Ice before resuming his studies at Brown University this fall, but he hasn’t decided whether to continue skating competitively for another Olympic cycle. [...]
“I’m just so impressed by the level of Olympic performance that all the men were able to bring out,” he said. “It’s a true honor to have been able to compete with these incredible men this past season.”

 

[livetoskate]

The Japanese media reported on Vincent's practice. Thanks to Google translate-- Vincent gave a big smile hugging coach Mie Hamada and took a long time skating around. He landed a quad lutz to applause.

 

[livetoskate]

"I'm extremely grateful for everyone's love and positivity. Your support means the world to me, and it feels so great to be out of quarantine doing what I love again!" - from Vincent's instagram

 

[VGThuy]

Honestly, I’m not surprised that Vincent would be taken aback by the amount of support he received since he was in isolation. He’s always been in the shadows of other skaters who’ve had more fanfare and his inconsistency since the 2018-19 season didn’t help his confidence. So many have argued against his place on the team even after he earned it before Nationals. After the team was announced and during all the debates about whether Ilia should be named on the team, I noticed in Vincent’s social media that he received noticeably less support than other skaters and hardly anybody congratulated his placement on the team compared to others who made the team and even one who did not. He must’ve felt that not many people were fans of his or that they didn’t care or they were actively not supporting him, especially after his disappointing Nationals LP skate.

 

[acraven]

According to this news article Vincent wasn't able to march in the closing ceremony because he was flagged as a close contact--I guess of someone who tested positive:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mo...-missing-competition/ar-AAU5X81?ocid=msedgntp

 

[Barbara Manatee]

The closing ceremony coverage showed so many interviews with the US skaters talking about how they've bonded into a family - poor Vincent missed out on all of that, too. That's as much of a loss as his individual event. He'll get his team medal eventually, but he's always going to feel like the odd man out.

What awful luck. I'll be rooting for him to kick all kinds of ass at Worlds.

 

[Sylvia]

The closing ceremony coverage showed so many interviews with the US skaters talking about how they've bonded into a family - poor Vincent missed out on all of that, too. That's as much of a loss as his individual event. He'll get his team medal eventually, but he's always going to feel like the odd man out.

At least he made it into this group photo at the rings (upper left, next to Jean-Luc): https://www.instagram.com/p/CaQTsNILsxx/

What awful luck. I'll be rooting for him to kick all kinds of ass at Worlds.

Vincent !!!

 

[Sylvia]

Posted 2 days ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaulETrr8th/
I'm really grateful that mental health is now a prevalent discussion because as I ride out the comedown after my experience at the Olympics, I find that some of these days are even more difficult than when I was actually there living in those moments. As I battle to find myself and to take one step at a time towards the light at the end of the tunnel, I am constantly reminded of the incredible people around me and how much I have to be grateful for. To everyone experiencing struggles that may be similar but I'm sure are completely unique, I'd like to reach out and say that I feel your pain and/or grief. Although I may not understand your situation and know what you know, I do know what it's like to experience these emotions and it's one of the hardest things in the world anyone can deal with. You're not alone - that may sound cliché at this point, but if nobody else, I'm someone who is proud to stand with you and stand up for you.

Off-ice training exercise yesterday: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca2Lj5vrSM1/

ETA that @clairecloutier posted this article link in the U.S. Men’s thread last week:

“I learned what it meant to chase my dreams and make sacrifices”: Vincent Zhou ’26 reflects on 2022 Olympics - The Brown Daily Herald

When Vincent Zhou ’26 tested positive for COVID-19 just a day before he would have competed in the men’s figure skating individual competitions, his first reaction was to think, “Okay, this is happening.”

www.browndailyherald.com

New article about Vincent in the Brown Daily Herald:

Sounds like he will likely put skating on the backburner next year as he returns to Brown (although nothing is definite yet).

 

[Sylvia]

Vincent shared a 4Lz clip the other day: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbKnRaBgBFJ/

https://twitter.com/x/status/1503849297540001793

2 articles based on Vincent’s pre-Worlds media call on March 15:

San Francisco Chronicle by Ann Killion:

COVID, scandal, heartbreak: Vincent Zhou tries to move past Olympic nightmare

Vincent Zhou gets another chance next week. It’s not the Olympics. But the skater from...

www.sfchronicle.com

Washington Post by Les Carpenter:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/03/15/vincent-zhou-coronavirus-beijing-olympics/

 

[Sylvia]

2 more articles…

By Nick Zaccardi:

Vincent Zhou, denied an Olympic chance, puts his skates back on

Vincent Zhou detailed the challenges of returning to figure skating for the world championships after testing positive for the coronavirus at the Olympics.

olympics.nbcsports.com

By Juliet Macur:

Knocked Down by Covid in Beijing, Vincent Zhou Is Getting Back Up (Published 2022)

Zhou missed the men’s individual event at the Olympics because of the coronavirus. He is trying to shake off the memory in hopes of excelling at the figure skating world championships.

www.nytimes.com

Excerpt from the end:

Still, he told reporters — and likely himself — that “probably 90, I don’t know, 95 percent of other people would have already given up.” And he’s not one of those people.
He said just being able to take that first step and go to worlds would make him really proud. He is trying to will it to happen: Get on that plane. Put on that costume. Step out on that ice. Deep down, he said, the motivation to do that still drives him.
“Life really wants to get me down right now,” he said. “But I’m not ready to go down without a fight.”

 

[Sylvia]

Long feature article by Elaine Teng (March 23):

Figure skater Vincent Zhou worked his whole life for the Beijing Olympics. COVID-19 had other plans.

Vincent Zhou was ready to step out of Nathan Chen's shadow when a positive COVID-19 test dashed his lifelong dream of Olympic glory. Now, as he prepares to compete at the world championships, he's grieving what he lost.

www.espn.com

Vincent scored 95.84 in his Worlds SP today (4Lzq+3T, 4S<, 3A, all level 4s) for 6th place and will skate first in the final group on Saturday. From the ISU's Quick Quotes document:

That short program was definitely a great moment for me. All the stuff I’ve been through (at the Olympic Games – when he tested positive for Covid-19 and was unable to compete in the individual event)... last week I couldn’t even get through a full program, I couldn’t even do a good jump. I got on the plane, got here, took one step at a time, and managed to skate like that so it definitely feels great.
(on what he overcame to be able to compete today) Two or three days before I left, I very nearly withdrew from this competition. Once I made the decision to come...there is a bit of a mental switch – the mind is very powerful – and so after I got here I’ve been skating pretty well, just trying not to put any unnecessary pressure on myself but just accepting everything as it comes, and I think that helped me skate a little more comfortably.
(on his goal for the Free Skating) Obviously I want to skate well in the free skate. I have been skating well in practice, but simply being here is a big win for me, and I’m doing my best to enjoy myself out there, enjoy my time here in France and make the best of it.

 

[toddlj]

I was expecting someone in the fan thread to have said that Vincent was judged much too harshly on his jumps today. So I'll do it!! The 4Lz absolutely didn't deserve a q.

 

[jlai]

great redemption Vincent!

 

[Cayuse]

great redemption Vincent!

So proud of Vincent working through a difficult mental depression and being able to go to Worlds, perform two glorious skates and stand on the podium. Much more impressive is Vincent sharing his mental health challenges. The openness from him will impact far more people than the silver medal.

 

[Judy]

So proud of Vincent working through a difficult mental depression and being able to go to Worlds, perform two glorious skates and stand on the podium. Much more impressive is Vincent sharing his mental health challenges. The openness from him will impact far more people than the silver medal.

I’m really happy for him!

 

[livetoskate]

It was wonderful and such a relief to see Vincent skate well & win a medal. I wonder if he'll keep competing. Great to see all the guys looking so happy during the medal ceremony.

 

[tylersf]

So happy for Vincent! I hope he continues, but can understand if he moves on.

 

[livetoskate]

Here are Vincent's performances during Stars on Ice Japan:

Vincent Zhou Plays . . . Vincent on APR.8th. and Lonely on APR.10th. ãåé¤ãããããããã¾ãããStars On Ice 2022

Mr. Vincent Zhouの動画（ video）です。 Vincent on APR.8th. and Lonely on APR.10th.　　削除されるかもしれません。May be deleted without notice今回　大阪２日の昼、夜公演、東京の８日と10日の公演を見ました。　かなりの出費...

youtu.be

 

[Sylvia]

"Photo dump from SOI Japan": https://www.instagram.com/p/CcOMvJ3uAkK/

... - one of the best weeks of my life, not just because of the incredible shows, but because of the amazing family around me that made the experience so much more special.
I loved everything about Osaka and Tokyo - the scale of the cities, the culture, aesthetic, fashion, shopping & dining… I could go on and on. I absolutely cannot wait to return to Japan! Thank you so much for having me!

He also shared pics from this cool place visited by many of the skaters: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcFotULLARv/

 

[mtnskater]

It warms my heart to see Vincent say he’s had one of the best weeks of his life in Japan. He’s so deserving of that at the end of a season of some major ups and downs! I sure hope we see him continue. He keeps growing artistically almost every time I see him.

 

[Sylvia]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1524417799015346176

Vincent Zhou’s World Bronze Medal Victory - Comeback as Good as Gold - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Vincent Zhou almost didn't get on the plane to the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2022.

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

NBC News NOW Sports Report 7-min. interview by Joshua Johnson about Vincent's comeback at Worlds (April 28): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqtVcvdIy9M
Also posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NBCNOWTonight/status/1519844393628409856

Article ahead of the 4/24 Providence Stars on Ice show:

Olympic skater and Brown student Vincent Zhou part of 'Stars on Ice' lineup in Providence

The Brown freshman, who won silver in Beijing and bronze at the World Figure Skating Championships, will be at the Dunk April 24 with "Stars on Ice."

www.providencejournal.com

Providence is familiar to Zhou, who returns in the fall as a second-semester freshman at Brown University, where he’s studying economics with an eye on a career in entrepreneurship consulting.
...
“I am making my journey for myself, and I achieve what I want to achieve,” he says. “You can’t get into the trap of doing things you need to do to please others. I have to shut out the noise and focus on my dreams.”

ETA:

Vincent Zhou enjoying Stars on Ice experience after up and down season – Figure Skaters Online

Excerpts:

[Re. his SOI program debuted in Japan & now on U.S. tour] “Lonely” by Illenium & Chandler Leighton. Illenium is Zhou’s favorite artist. After he posted his Instagram video about testing positive for COVID at the Olympics, Illenium reached out to him, extending his positive thoughts. Zhou took advantage of that line of communication and asked him for a special music cut, which Illenium obliged. Zhou choreographed the program with Drew Meekins.

Zhou said he hasn’t decided yet what he plans to study, but says he will most likely be majoring in economics. Zhou said he would eventually like to start his own business.
“I’m interested in like entrepreneurship,” he shared. “I want to use my sports background, because all the knowledge and experience I’ve gained over the years is too valuable to just put aside and take up something completely different, in my opinion.”
Though Zhou plans to focus solely on his academics in the fall, he states he hasn’t retired from competitive skating and hasn’t ruled out another competitive season. The new Skating Club of Boston facility, which opened in 2020 in the Norwood, Massachusetts, is only about a hour away from the Brown University campus.
“We’ll see,” he said of his future plans in the skating.

ETA #2 - ISU's feature on Vincent (April 28) and link to listen to his appearance on their Ice Skating podcast: https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/...es-the-ice-skating-podcast-2?templateParam=15 & https://isu.org/media-centre/libraries/podcast

 

[Sylvia]

Vincent will converse with Michelle Hong on USFS’ IG Live tomorrow at 2 pm ET/11 AM PT (for both AAPI Heritage & Mental Health Awareness Month in May): https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd8cVyQLN0A/

ETA the replay video link - Vincent did this chat while on the SOI tour bus: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd_bdg0phu0/