The figure skating world is screaming “sacré bleu” over the scoring by French judge Jezabel Dabouis that cost American pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates gold in the ice dance competition.
Dabouis’ scoring has come under intense scrutiny in the 24 hours after controversial French duo Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron edged out Chock and Bates with a total score of 225.82, just 1.43 points better than the U.S. duo.
The French judge’s scores differed drastically from those of her fellow judges when it came to the American and French skaters. In the free dance event, she scored Beaudry and Cizeron at 137.45 points, the second-highest for any judge, while scoring Chock and Bates 129.74 — the only judge not to give them more than 130 points.
The difference in the scores was a 7.71-point margin — the largest difference of the nine judges on the panel.
In the rhythm dance earlier in the week, there was another wide margin in Dabouis’ scoring between the Americans and the French pair, resulting in a near six-point difference, with France scoring 93.34 and the United States at 87.6.
All of this has led figure skating fans to raise the alarm over a possible scandal.
The IOC did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Other outlets have also suggested that Dabouis’ dubious scoring at these Olympics has not been an isolated event, with SB Nation using data from SkatingScores.com to highlight other instances in which she appeared to show bias toward France.
“We’ve certainly gone through a roller coaster of emotions, especially in the last 24 hours,” Chock told NBC News about the scoring. “And I think what we will take away is how we felt right after our skates and how proud we were of what we accomplished and how we handled ourselves throughout the whole week. Putting out four great performances at the Olympic Games is no small feat, and we’ve got a lot to be proud of.”
The scoring controversy is just the latest in a string surrounding the French pair, which has only been skating together for the past year.
Beaudry has been under the microscope after her former skating partner and longtime boyfriend, Nikolaj Sørensen, was suspended in 2024 after he was accused of sexually assaulting an American figure skating coach and former skater in 2012.
The suspension was overturned in June due to a technicality, and Beaudry has defended Sørensen and even lamented the fact that it impacted his career in a Netflix docuseries, “Glitter & Gold.”
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Cizeron was also accused of being controlling and demanding in a memoir published by his former on-ice partner Gabriella Papadakis.
He has denied the claims, labelling them a smear campaign, and said he is planning on taking legal action.
Neither has directly addressed the controversies during these Olympics, but in an interview with AFP, they said the difficulties made them stronger.
“And this time, we had everything to build from scratch. It was less straightforward,” Cizeron told the outlet. “In ten months, we went from never having taken two steps together to being Olympic champions. It was a challenge that seemed impossible to most people, and above all, we knew that obstacles were going to be put in our way.
“That multiplied our determination tenfold.”
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