Carolina Kostner Gets Bronze Medal; ‘Olympic Figure Skater Fell Through Ice’ is Satire, No ‘Emergency Crews Attempt’

Women's free skate figure skating medalists, from left, Italy's Carolina Kostner, bronze, Russia's Adelina Sotnikova, gold, and South Korea's Yuna Kim, silver, pose with their medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Carolina Kostner, the Italian figure skater, won a bronze medal during the Sochi Olympics on Thursday during the free skating competition.

She won the medal a day after a viral satire report from The Onion said that she fell through the ice and emergency rescue crews were trying to rescue her. The fake news report--dated Wednesday, Feb. 19--got more than 130,000 shares on Facebook, and many people thought it was real.

“In a race against time, local emergency crews reportedly rushed to rescue Italian figure skater Carolina Kostner Wednesday after the Olympian plunged through a hazardous thin patch of ice during her short program at the Iceberg Skating Palace,” the Onion article reads. 

However, The Onion has been publishing satire news--and only satire news--since 1988.

“The Onion uses invented names in all its stories, except in cases where public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental,” reads a disclaimer from The Onion.

And despite Kostner winning a medal the day after the satire report went viral, people on Friday were still commenting on it as if The Onion article was real.

“Wow! I sure hope these rescuers were able to save the Olympic skater that fell thru this arena ice,” one person tweeted Friday afternoon. 

Wrote another, “A figure skater fell through the ice at the Olympics and had to have the rescue crew help her.”

According to The Associated Press, got a 216.73 on Thursday, taking third place.

During the event, Russia’s Adelina Sotnikova took the gold while South Korean skater Yuna Kim took silver.

“I first dreamed to be at the Olympics after the nationals in 2010,” Sotnikova told AP. “And when I watched the games in Vancouver, I really wanted to qualify for the next games. I knew it won’t be easy. There are so many new talented girls around.”

However, there was controversy over the judging of the event that saw Kostner take a bronze medal. South Koreans believed that Kim was robbed of a gold medal for a second time when she took second place.

“Today’s figure skating comprises those evaluations that include a program, steps, jumps,” Sotnikova’s coach, Elena Buyanova, said Friday in an attempt to dispel the controversy. “We were not behind in our complexity, rotations, and I think we should be proud of our two girls because they did not give in to the world elite.”