A judge from France at the Winter Olympics has been accused of manipulating the figure skating competition to ensure that her country, France, secured the gold medal. The French duo, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, clinched the gold with a total score of 225.82, edging out the American pair of Madison Chock and Evan Bates by a mere 1.43 points.
The controversy arose when the scores of the French judge, Jezabel Dabouis, were revealed online, casting doubt on the fairness of the competition. Chock and Bates, who had previously won three consecutive world championships in ice dance, were expected to perform strongly in Milan.
Following the rhythm dance segment on Monday, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron were placed first by the judges, while Chock and Bates had to settle for second. While five judges favored the French pair, only three ranked the Americans on top, highlighting discrepancies among the judging panel.
Despite five out of six judges giving the highest score to Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron, with Chock and Bates trailing closely within 3.5 points, Dabouis notably awarded her compatriots a significant 5.74-point lead. In the subsequent free dance on Wednesday, five out of nine judges rated Chock and Bates the highest, but Dabouis again awarded a substantial 7.71-point advantage to Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron.
The International Skating Union responded to the backlash by stating that variations in judges’ scores are normal, and mechanisms are in place to address such discrepancies. The ISU affirmed confidence in the fairness of the scores given.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Chock and Bates expressed mixed emotions about the judges’ scoring, emphasizing their pride in their performances at the Olympic Games. Bates acknowledged the subjectivity of the sport and the nature of judging in figure skating.
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