Team USA's Podium Celebration Left Figure Skaters Scrambling To Fix Damaged Skates

Winning Olympic gold usually comes with champagne showers and victory laps, not emergency equipment repairs.

But that's exactly what Team USA's figure skaters were dealing with after the team event medal ceremony, where a bizarre oversight by organizers left several skaters scrambling to fix damaged skates following their celebration.

On Sunday night, the United States became the first team to win consecutive Olympic golds in the team event and the only country to have medaled in every Olympic team event since its debut in 2014. But the win came with a cost.

According to USA TODAY, U.S. skaters discovered their blades had been scratched and potentially damaged after stepping onto a metal podium that had not been covered in carpet or any other soft surface.

Typically, figure skaters put on skate guards whenever they are not on the ice to protect their blades. In this case, no skate guards were provided before they stepped onto the podium.

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Of course, it didn't help matters when the athletes all held hands and jumped on the metal podium. This celebration reportedly made the scratches and blade damage even worse.

Gold medalists of Team United States celebrate on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Team Event

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Switching skates isn't a simple fix in figure skating, either.

According to the USA TODAY report, "Issues with blades could lead to having to change skates, a doomsday scenario for skaters since it usually takes some time to break them in before they feel comfortable with them."

And time is not a luxury they had. Because less than 24 hours later, Team USA figure skaters were scheduled to take part in the rhythm dance event.

Hopefully, they got those blades straightened out. And next time, whoever's in charge of carpets and skate guards won't drop the ball.