Team USA Figure Skating is not appealing the controversial judging in the ice dance competition that resulted in the pair of Madison Chock and Evan Bates finishing with the silver medal behind France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
USA TODAY Sports’ Jordan Mendoza and Christine Brennan were the first to report USFS’s decision, as the 24-hour deadline following the result on Feb. 11 had long since expired with no word.
“There has been a lot of thoughtful, and at times, emotional discussion about the ice dance competition in Milan,” USFS CEO Matt Farrell’s statement read. “Working together with Madi and Evan after the Games, we will have thoughtful and intentional discussions about the best way to support them and the future of the sport. For now, we plan to join them in supporting the success of US Figure Skating in Milan.”
Chock and Bates’ silver medal was one of the more puzzling results in recent figure skating memory at the Olympics, which fueled talks of controversy after the results revealed a significant discrepancy in the French judge Jezabel Dabouis’s scores between the Americans and the French in their final performance.
Entering the free dance, Chock and Bates trailed Cizerone and Beaudry by a razor-thin 0.46 points. They were practically perfect in their “Paint It Black” program, yet their score of 134.67 fell suspiciously short of the French’s 135.64, despite Beaudry and Cizerone’s routine featuring noticeable mistakes.
“We felt like we delivered our absolute best performance that we could have,” Chock said. “It was our Olympic moment. It felt like a winning skate to us, and that’s what we’re going to hold on to.”
She gave Beaudry and Cizerone a score of 137.45 while slapping Chock and Bates with their lowest score of the routine at 129.74. The seven-point discrepancy was the largest of any of the judges and by far the lowest score given to Chock and Bates in the free dance, thus suggesting that Dabouis was clearly favoring her compatriots.
“Any time the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport,” Chock continued. “It’s hard to retain fans when it’s difficult to understand what is happening on the ice. I think there needs to be a lot more clarity for the skaters, for the coaches, and for the audience in order to just have a solid fan base moving forward. People need to understand what they’re cheering for and be able to feel confident in the sport that they’re supporting.”
