ISU defends Olympic ice dance scoring after French judge’s margin swings gold to French team over US

The International Skating Union is standing by the judging of the controversial Olympic ice dance competition.

The ruling comes days after the French couple of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron beat the favored American team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates in large part because of scores from French judge Jezabel Dabouis.

Dabouis favored the French pair over the married Americans from Michigan by nearly eight points, a result the led to an upset loss for the three-time world champions.

The results had thousands of American fans clamoring for an investigation, with some going as far to say that Chock and Bates were robbed of a gold medal.

“It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judge in any panel and a number of mechanism are used to mitigate these variations,” the ISU said, according to the Associated Press, adding it has “full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”

There is little recourse for the U.S. team if the global governing body is unwilling to investigate the scoring discrepancy, the AP reported.

Dabouis also had a wide margin favoring the French couple in the Olympic rhythm dance, when they also beat the U.S. team.

“Any time the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport,” Chock said. “I think it’s hard to retain fans when it’s difficult to understand what is happening on the ice. People need to understand what they’re cheering for and be able to feel confident in the sport that they’re supporting.”

Despite the silver, Chock and Bates won’t be leaving Italy without a gold medal since the U.S. won the team competition earlier in the games. And the couple remained positive overall.

“A medal is a medal, the Olympic dream is alive, and it’s not something that is tangible,” Chock said.

“It’s something that lives within us, and really is the driving force for our motivation and intrinsic goals. And I think that’s what’s special about the Olympics. And that’s a real win for us.”

This is the first Olympic games since Chock and Bates were married on June 20, 2024. The two have been skating partners since 2011 and became engaged in 2022.

Bates was born and raised in Ann Arbor, graduating from Huron High School in 2007. Meanwhile, Chock was born in Redondo Beach, Calif., before moving to Michigan and attending Novi High School.