MILAN — Madison Chock and Evan Bates will remain silver medalist ice dancers at the Milan Olympics. U.S. Figure Skating did not appeal the controversial judging that awarded their French competitors the gold medal in last week’s ice dance event.
Last Wednesday, Chock and Bates, who are the reigning world and national champions in ice dance, performed an outstanding free skate routine that put them at the top of the medal leaderboard … right up until France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron topped them and skated away with the gold medal.
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The American duo were visibly devastated after the medal ceremony, with Chock calling it “bittersweet” to come so far and fall short of gold. The next day, Chock called for “transparent judging” on CBS News. “I think it’s also important for the skaters, that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are also putting out their best performance,” she added, “because there’s a lot on the line for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field.”
A deeper examination of the skating scores indicated that while bias existed all up and down the judges’ panel, the French judge favored Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron by a greater degree than any other judge’s bias in other directions.
However, the International Skating Union contended there was no malfeasance at work. “It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations,” the governing body said in a statement. “The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”
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U.S. Figure Skating had 24 hours to appeal the result, but opted not to do so. “There has been a lot of thoughtful, and at times emotional, discussion about the ice dance competition in Milan,” USFS CEO Matt Farrell told USA Today Sports in a statement. “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 U.S. Figure Skating in Milan.”
The pairs and women’s events remain to be skated in Milan. Team USA already has a team gold medal, won in part by Chock and Bates.
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