“We did. I know it, you know it. The whole world knows it.” I took his hand. “So who cares if we don’t have some shiny hunks of metal to prove it?”
I meant every word. I didn’t care about the medals anymore. I didn’t care if we were immortalized in the record books, or forgotten tomorrow. A bunch of washed-up bureaucrats in some bland Swiss conference room didn’t get to decide if we were champions or not. I decided who I was. I decided what I wanted.
“Are you sure, Katarina?” Heath asked. “Are you sure that will be enough for you?”
You’re my home,Heath had said to me once. Despite all the years we’d spent apart, all the time we’d wasted, he was my home too. He always had been.
“We have the rest of our lives,” I said. “That’s more than enough.”
Inez Acton:Good for her.
Jane Currer:Ms. Shaw was given every opportunity to provide a reasonable explanation for what happened in Sochi. She did not avail herself of those opportunities.
Inez Acton:She gave her whole life to that sport, and this is how they repay her? Fuck ’em.
Jane Currer:In the end, she left us no other option.
Kirk Lockwood reports on NBC: “American ice dancers Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha will be stripped of their win at the recent Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia—although, as Mr. Rocha has been hospitalized since the night of the ice dance final, they never actually received their gold medals. U.S. Figure Skating will meet in the coming months to consider future disciplinary measures, including a potential ban from the sport.”
Veronika Volkova:The medal ceremony was delayed for weeks.
A perfunctory ceremony is conducted for the remaining ice dance medalists. Francesca Gaskell and Evan Kovalenko are given the gold, while Yelena Volkova and Dmitri Kipriyanov are bumped up from bronze to silver.
Francesca Gaskell:That wasn’t how I wanted to win. Believe me.
As soon as the ceremony ends, Yelena throws her medal at her aunt’s feet and storms off.
Veronika Volkova:It was an emotional time for us all.
The image freezes on Yelena’s retreating figure and fades to black and white. Superimposed text reads: “In the aftermath of the Sochi Games, Yelena Volkova abruptly quit the sport. We attempted to contact her before production began, but her current whereabouts are unknown.”
Ellis Dean:So after all that, little Frannie Gaskell got to be Olympic champion.
Francesca Gaskell:Would I have agreed to this interview if I had anything to hide?
Ellis Dean:And the next season, the Gaskells tripled their usual annual donation to U.S. Figure Skating. Totally aboveboard and not infuriatingly corrupt at all.
Francesca Gaskell:The question you should be asking is: if Kat and Heath are so innocent, why did they refuse to talk to you? Why am I here, and they aren’t, huh?
Jane Currer:We may never know the truth for certain. We made the best decision we could, given the circumstances.
Inez Acton:Kat and Heath were robbed. I don’t care what anyone says.
Francesca Gaskell:I for one would love to know what they have to say for themselves. Since apparently I’ll be spending myentire lifedefending my accomplishments.
Ellis Dean:I know whatreallywent down in Sochi. The rest of the world deserves Shaw and Rocha’s true story too.
Francesca Gaskell:I’m an Olympic champion. I’m a philanthropist. I’m agood person.
Producer(Offscreen): No one said you weren’t, Ms. Gaskell. But back to my question: howwouldyou define your relationship with Dmitri Kipriyanov?
Francesca Gaskell:You know what?(She starts to remove her mic.)That’s enough.
Producer(Offscreen): Ms. Gaskell, please, we—
Francesca Gaskell:I should have known you people weren’t interested in the truth.
Ellis Dean:But I guess that’s up to you now, huh?(He winks at the camera.)
