United States men's figure skater Vincent Zhou tested positive for COVID-19 at the Beijing Olympics and will be unable to compete in the upcoming events.
"Olympic silver medalist Vincent Zhou announced tonight that he will be unable to compete in the men's competition at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games due to testing positive for COVID-19," a U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement.
Zhou posted a five-minute video to Instagram Monday breaking the news he won't be competing in the upcoming individual skating events.
"It seems pretty unreal that of all the people, it would happen to myself," he said as he spoke directly to the camera in what seemed to be a hotel room.
"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. I've taken all the precautions I can. I've isolated myself so much that the loneliness I've felt the last month or two has been crushing at times."
Zhou initially tested positive Sunday, the same day he competed his free skate program for the team event helping the United States win the silver medal. Zhou was set to compete in the men's short program Tuesday but pulled out following another positive result.
"I've already lost count of the number of times I've cried today," he said. "But I'm happy to say that at least one of those times was happy tears. That was when I found out that I became an Olympic silver medalist."
Zhou added it was "always his dream to medal on an Olympic stage," and more than anything he just wanted to be able to skate. "If I didn't love this I wouldn't still be doing it. And I know I love this."
There are concerns he could spread it to his teammates. During Sunday's competition, he was around almost the entire U.S. Olympic team including men, women, pairs and ice dance teams.
Following Zhou's withdrawal from the competition, Team USA men's figure skating team will only have Nathan Chen and Jason Brown left to compete. An alternative will not be allowed to take Zhou's place as he withdrew too far into the competition.
The two time Olympian ended the video saying he was humbled and grateful to call himself an Olympic silver medalist and hopes to represent Team USA in the upcoming world championships.
Update 2/7/2022 12:45 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include more background information about Zhou.
