Allegations have surfaced claiming a French judge at the Winter Olympics manipulated figure skating scores to ensure a gold medal for France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, who achieved a total score of 225.82, narrowly edging out Team USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates by 1.43 points.
The controversy arose after online revelations of French judge Jezabel Dabouis’ scoring in the ice dance competition, where skaters perform two routines across two days: the rhythm dance and the free dance. Chock and Bates, previous world champions in the event, were favored but ended up second to the French pair after the rhythm dance section.
While five judges ranked Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron first, only three placed Chock and Bates at the top, highlighting discrepancies among judges. Notably, Dabouis awarded the French duo 5.74 more points than the American pair, the largest margin among the judges.
In the subsequent free dance segment, five out of nine judges favored Chock and Bates, with Dabouis awarding a significant 7.71 points more to Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron. Despite this, the International Skating Union defended the scores, emphasizing the normal range of scores among judges and their commitment to fairness.
Following the event, Chock and Bates expressed mixed emotions about the judging scores, emphasizing their pride in their performances and sportsmanship. Bates reflected on the subjectivity of judging in sports, acknowledging the unpredictable nature of outcomes in such competitions.
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