Olympics scandal erupts as judge is accused of ‘rigging’ event to deny Team USA and give her team the gold instead

After all the jumps and spins, here’s another twist on figure skating at the Winter Games Olympic Gameswhere a French judge was accused of having “rigged” the competition to ensure gold for her compatriots and condemn Team USA to sorrow.

On Wednesday in Milan, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates were denied victory. by a French duo surrounded by controversy – even though they thought they delivered a “flawless, gold medal-winning performance”.

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron – whose personal lives were engulfed in scandal – won gold with a total score of 225.82, just 1.43 points higher than the American team. Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won bronze.

Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron were seen in tears after their victory, but their victory is now under scrutiny after French judge Jezabel Dabouis’ scores were published online.

In the free dance Wednesday evening, Dabouis awarded Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron 137.45 points – the second highest total among all judges. She was also the only judge not to award the American team more than 130 points (129.74).

For comparison, the American and Chinese judges awarded the two American spouses – four-time Olympians – scores of 137.67 and 136.95, respectively.

The American team was dramatically denied Olympic gold by Frenchmen Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron in figure skating

Madison Chock and Evan Bates were forced to settle for silver with a score of 224.49 in Milan

Jezabel Dabouis, the French judge on the Winter Olympics competition jury

Meanwhile, the difference between Dabouis’s scores for the United States and France was almost eight points – significantly more than any other judge on the panel – and, in another cruel twist, five of the nine judges gave Chock and Bates the highest score in the free dance, compared to four who ranked France first.

Similar problems emerged in the rhythm dance section of the competition, where Dabouis gave France the highest score (93.34). That’s nearly six points higher than what she got for the United States, 87.6, which was the penultimate score of any judge.

Interestingly, none of the nine judges rated the United States lower than second place in the rankings, with three placing it first, but two judges – from Britain and Germany – placed France in third place. However, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron finished first with a 0.46 point lead.

Coincidentally, the American judge was removed from the scoring panel for the rhythm dance section of the competition.

Each time, French judge Dabouis helped widen the gap between France and the United States and fans suggested she had deliberately “rigged” the results.

‘THE[re] It must be an investigation! one user fumed on social media. “This is a legal scandal,” said another. “There aren’t many times in sports where many times it appears to be rigged…Chock and Bates (and others) have been robbed.”

This is not the first time that a French figure skating judge finds himself at the epicenter of a scandal.

Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron were seen sobbing after their victory but fans are unhappy

In 2002, at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Marie-Reine Le Gougne allegedly succumbed to pressure from her federation to award the gold medal to the Russian duo Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, leaving Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier with the silver.

The International Skating Union (ISU) suspended Le Gougne for three years and excluded her from the 2006 Turin Olympics. The scandal, apparently part of a vote-swapping scheme in skating, marked the start of sweeping reforms in judging.

Following their money heartbreak, Chock and Bates we asked if they believed that the judges had been fair. “That was our gold medal performance,” Bates said. “It was the best we could skate.”

Chock added: “We brought out our best skates every time we took the Olympic ice…they were perfect for us.

“We couldn’t have skated better and we’re very proud of the way we took on the ice and the way we performed every time. The rest is out of our control. The Daily Mail has contacted the IOC for comment.

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

This is despite their brief career together being marred by “toxic” allegations about their past.

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

“We couldn’t have skated better and we’re very proud,” Chock said after the event.

Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won the bronze medal with a score of 217.74.

He denied the accusations and, although his six-year suspension from Skate Canada was ultimately overturned on technical grounds, the scandal effectively ended his competitive career. Fournier Beaudry recently lamented the situation in the Netflix documentary series “Glitter & Gold,” saying the ordeal ruined his partner’s life.

Meanwhile, Cizeron arrived in Milan facing explosive claims from his former gold medal-winning partner, Gabriella Papadakis.

In an interview preceding his memoir “To Not Disappear,” Papadakis described Cizeron as “controlling, demanding and critical.” She wrote that she felt under his “control” and was “terrified” to be alone with him during their time as a A-list couple.

Cizeron responded to the claims, calling them a “smear campaign” and confirming he was taking legal action. “I would like to express my incomprehension and disagreement with the labels that have been assigned to me,” he told Reuters. “The book contains false information, including statements that I never made and which I consider to be serious.”