American figure skaters who were robbed of gold in Winter Olympics ‘rigging’ scandal demand probe into French judge

Winter Olympics figure skating’s ‘true champions’ have called for a review of jury members after fears of a ‘cheating’ scandal and the French striker’s voting record became questionable.

Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates were dramatically denied victory in Milan on Wednesday By a French couple who courted controversy despite believing they had delivered a ‘flawless, gold medal performance’.

Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron eventually brought them down to gold, butThere was a worrying discrepancy between the scores of eight of the judges and the French member of the panel, Jezabel Dabouis.

Dabouis is currently under widespread public scrutiny, with US publication SB Nation claiming there is a ‘consistent pattern across many events in ice dancing of F. Beaudry/Cizeron juicing and underrating his opponents’.

website SkatingScores.com is an archive of previous competitions and shows that Dabouis has a history of scoring differences with fellow judges for the same pair.

Daubois at the 2026 European Championship The French pair scored higher than the others, giving them a big point in the free skate section. It highlights two pairs who, when compared to the other pairs on the panel (when averaged), are threatening themselves for gold.

French jury member Jezabel Dabouis (right), who was on the Winter Olympics competition panel, gave French gold medal winners higher scores than other jury members.

It was claimed that Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron did not win the gold medal, however, due to the large difference in the scoring of one of the judges

Scores from the European Championships show that Dabouis once again gave the French duo higher scores than the average of the other judges

At last year’s Figure Skating Grand Prix in Japan, Beaudry and Cizeron missed an element of their routine and also suffered a fall that would usually keep them well clear of the podium places. Again, Daubois rewarded them with a magnificent score.

Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron only formed a team in March last year, and Dabouis has judged six of their competitions over the past 12 months. The French pair won five of the events.

CBS news asked Chock and Bates about the questionable judging after many fans online claimed it was ‘rigged’ against them.

Chock said:If it were more understandable to the audience, it would certainly be beneficial for the proceedings to be seen as more transparent and to understand what is really going on.

‘I think it’s important for the skaters too that the judges are vetted and reviewed to make sure they are performing at their best.

‘There’s a lot at stake when skaters are out there doing their best and we deserve the judges to give us their best and for it to be a fair and level playing field.’

The difference between Dabouis’s scores in the US and France was almost eight points – far more than anyone else’s – and in another brutal twist, five of the nine judges gave Chock and Bates the highest score in the free dance, while rating France No. 1.

Similar problems arose in the rhythm dancing portion of the competition, where Dabouis gave France by far the highest score (93.34). This was almost six points higher than the 87.6 rating it received in the US; this was the second lowest score among all judges.

The French judge gave the French team high scores, but scored the US competitors much lower than the other judges on the panel, as seen above.

In figure skating, the US team was dramatically denied an Olympic gold medal by France’s Beaudry and Cizeron

‘[re] There must be an investigation!’ One user raged on social media.

‘This is a judging scandal,’ said another. ‘There aren’t many incidents in sports that appear to have been rigged several times… Chock and Bates (and others) were robbed.’

There was a huge outcry among both viewers and fellow competitors, with American figure skater Ellie Kam describing her compatriots as “true champions” on Instagram.

The backlash was so fierce that the International Skating Union responded with an official statement.

‘It is normal for any panel to have ranges of scores awarded by different judges and a variety of mechanisms are used to reduce these differences,’ they said.

‘ISU has full confidence in the scores awarded and remains fully committed to fairness.’

Chock and Bates managed to be generous after their disappointment.

“I think sometimes in life you feel like you’re doing everything right and things don’t go your way, that’s life, that’s sports,” Bates said. “And it’s a subjective sport. It’s a judged sport.”

Chock added: ‘It’s definitely a bit bittersweet because we’re very, very happy with our performance this week. We really gave it our all and I wouldn’t change a thing about how we approach every performance, what we offer at every performance. ‘We really did our best.’

Meanwhile, the gold medal-winning couple is haunted by ‘toxic’ allegations about their past.

Fournier Beaudry has faced intense scrutiny for her relationship with boyfriend and former skating partner Nikolaj Sorensen. Sorensen was suspended in 2024 following sexual assault allegations in 2012 involving a former skater and coach.

Beaudry and Cizeron already entered the contest under a cloud of controversy

She denied the accusations, and although her six-year suspension from Skate Canada was eventually overturned on a technicality, the scandal effectively ended her competitive career. Fournier Beaudry recently lamented the situation in Netflix docuseries ‘Glitter & Gold’ and claimed that the ordeal ruined his partner’s life.

Meanwhile, Cizeron arrived in Milan facing explosive allegations from her former gold medalist partner Gabriella Papadakis.

Papadakis described Cizeron as ‘controlling, demanding and critical’ in an interview ahead of his memoir ‘To Not Be Lost’. She wrote that she felt ‘in control’ of him and was ‘horrified’ to be alone with him during their time as a world-leading couple.

Cizeron responded to the allegations, describing them as a ‘smear campaign’ and confirmed it was taking legal action. “I would like to express my incomprehension and disagreement with the labels attributed to me,” he told Reuters. ‘The book contains false information, including statements I never made and thought were serious.’