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“Thank The French Judge”: Ice Skater Speaks After Accusations Of Cheating To Beat US In The Olympics
After seemingly taking the “silence is golden” route for a while, French ice dancer Laurence Fournier Beaudry finally broke her silence on social media.
Fournier Beaudry and her partner Guillaume Cizeron were controversially crowned gold medalists at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics for their performance on the ice.
Their scores were heavily scrutinized after narrowly beating the American duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
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Highlights
- French ice dancer Laurence Fournier Beaudry reportedly broke her silence on social media.
- She and her partner Guillaume Cizeron were controversially crowned gold medalists at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics for their performance on the ice.
- The controversy led to netizens expressing outrage, saying: “USA was robbed.”
French ice dancer Laurence Fournier Beaudry finally broke her silence on social media
Image credits: Robert Gauthier / Getty Images
Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won gold in the ice dance competition at Milan-Cortina 2026, narrowly beating the American duo and reigning three-time world champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
Many felt the French pair’s routine had several mistakes, while their American counterparts’ performance was seen as nearly perfect.
Yet, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron took the top spot on the podium with a total score of 225.82 points. Husband-and-wife Chock and Bates settled for the silver medal after scoring 224.39.
Image credits: TNT Sports
Many scrutinized the scores and accused a French judge of favoring Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron by giving them almost eight points more in their free dance than the American team.
Five of the nine judges favored the American couple, and the other three judges gave more points to the French duo by a slim margin.
Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won gold at Milan-Cortina 2026, narrowly beating the American duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates
Image credits: laurencefournierbeaudry
Fournier Beaudry mostly stayed quiet on Instagram following the win, but she broke her social media silence at night on Thursday, February 12.
She shared a series of Instagram Stories, featuring her media appearances with her ice dancer partner.
“Guillaume is the best,” she said on social media, as quoted by Newsweek.
Image credits: laurencefournierbeaudry
“From the start, when we started skating together, I knew he was the best ice dancer in the world,” she continued. “He brought me so much confidence throughout the season, and that confidence probably helped us achieve what we did.”
The partnership between Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron is less than a year old.
They announced their professional pairing in March, 2025, with an Instagram post.
The partnership between Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron is less than a year old
Image credits: Mattia Martegani/Getty Images
Immediately after winning gold this week, Fournier Beaudry said she had a “hard time” believing the result.
“It just feels so amazing to just look back at where we started and where we are now and everything we accomplished together this year,” she told Olympics.com‘s Nick McCarvel soon after the victory. “We’re living the dream right now.”
Image credits: laurencefournierbeaudry
The French pair have both been in the limelight for a while.
Fournier Beaudry’s ex-boyfriend and former skating partner, Nikolaj Sørensen, had received a minimum six-year ban in 2024 after facing accusations of s**ually as**ulting an American figure skating coach and former skater in 2012.
A technicality led to the suspension being overturned last June. Meanwhile, Fournier Beaudry vocally defended him on different occasions.
Cizeron, on the other hand, was also accused by his former partner, Gabriella Papadakis, of being “controlling” and “demanding.”
He accused Papadakis of sharing “false” claims, calling them defamatory and a “smear campaign.”
The International Skating Union addressed the outrage that included netizens claiming, “USA was robbed”
Image credits: teamusa
Following the outrage over Wednesday’s ice dancing competition, the International Skating Union, the sport’s governing body, said they were confident in the final scores.
“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,” a spokesperson for the body said.
“The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness,” they added.
Image credits: Tim Clayton/Getty Images
Chock spoke about how she and her husband gave their “best” during the performance and found the outcome “bittersweet.”
“It’s definitely a little bittersweet because we are so, so happy with how we performed this week,” she said. “We really gave it our all, and I wouldn’t change anything about how we approached each performance, what we delivered in each performance. We really gave it our best.”
Evan Bates spoke about wanting to go “off the rails” as they settled for silver
View this post on Instagram
Meanwhile, Bates acknowledged the subjective element of the sport.
“I feel like life is sometimes you can feel like you do everything right and it doesn’t go your way, and that’s life and that’s sport,” he said. “And it’s a subjective sport. It’s a judged sport.”
Image credits: TNT Sports
After their gruelling training, Bates admitted he was ready to go “off the rails” and indulge in some habits he staved off for a while.
“We have been so dialed-in and preparing for these moments. And honestly, the first thing I did today was have a coffee, because I haven’t had coffee in, like, a month,” he said following their victory.
“So I think just going off the rails a little bit and having some junk food and staying up late is definitely what I want to do,” he added.
“Stuff like this happens in every Olympics,” one wrote online
Image credits: isufigureskating
Netizens fuelled the controversy with their comments, saying: “USA was robbed.”
“Biased judging,” one said.
Another wrote, “While many of us are disappointed Maddie and Evan didn’t win, to hate on this team is uncalled for. They did not judge themselves, the judges did.”
“Thank the French judge for that,” one commented online
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What do you think ?
martin734 1 week ago (edited)
Oh look, more Americans screaming fraud when votes don't go their way. In all international ice skating competitions the highest and lowest judges scores are discarded from the final total, so even if the French judges did over or under score, their scores would not have been included in the final total. I genuinely thought that both pairs were technically superb but the French pair were slightly ahead in terms of artistry and musicality. I preferred watching the French pair over the American pair.
Gaius214 1 week ago
While the scoring rule of dropping the highs & lows is relevant. It's the swings of some of the judges on these 2 pairs that is noteworthy. Especially when compared to other competitors. There is a significant history in the Olympics of score "swapping" by judges. So, this situation is worthy of analysis & discussion...without the hysterics or denigrating either country or its people.
Load More Replies...
Andrew Keir 1 week ago
Use of the phrase "we were robbed" is limited to Scottish fans after any match with England. Please don't steal our self-justifications.
Wat Tyler's Revenge 5 days ago
None of that yesterday! You come to Scotland, you're getting battered!
Load More Replies... d7k6jb2vqg 1 week ago
I just read that the US judge similarly gave the US pair their highest score and gave the French pair their third lowest score. So it cuts both ways.
brigitte tawa 1 week ago
I personally think the French couples was stunning on every levels. The american were excellent but to my opinion lacked poetry, emotion, beauty. I feel it is fair the FRENCH WON.
Sue Sasse 1 week ago
Seems to me, that judging in the skating arena has always been flawed. After all, judges are human. They have human biases and quirks. The complaints, here, have been echoed for decades. So, either come up with some sort of AI judging, or stfu. I'm an American, and have zero interest in all of this cry-babying. So, please don't think that all Americans have their panties in a wad, over skating.
Wat Tyler's Revenge 5 days ago
So that's two olympic ice dance comps thrown into controversy by a French judge. Maybe don't have French judges.
Stefan Groot 5 days ago (edited)
where is the options "Muricans shouldn't whine so much" or "Trump won the nobel peace price"?
JL 1 week ago
Why is there no rule barring a judge from scoring people from their own country? Also, other sports toss the highest and lowest scores to get rid of outliers. Ice skating doesn't do that?
martin734 6 days ago
Ice skating does discard the highest and lowest scores, so the if the French judges were over and under scoring, their scores would be dropped.
Load More Replies...
Scott Rackley 1 week ago (edited)
Yes, only one judge saw through all that and saw the true greatness of the French and the terribleness of the US. That judge was French. Not any others, just the French judge.
JayWantsACat 1 week ago
People missing the point saying "oh no the Americans lost boo hoo". I could not care less that we lost but if you actually read and look at the data, the variance in scores with the French judges versus the other judges points to something going on. Whether you think that warrants mentioning or not is a different story. But don't act like the US duo demanded the results be overturned or that they're officially contesting the them. People complain Americans act boorish and, yet, comments here are no better.
martin734 1 week ago (edited)
Oh look, more Americans screaming fraud when votes don't go their way. In all international ice skating competitions the highest and lowest judges scores are discarded from the final total, so even if the French judges did over or under score, their scores would not have been included in the final total. I genuinely thought that both pairs were technically superb but the French pair were slightly ahead in terms of artistry and musicality. I preferred watching the French pair over the American pair.
Gaius214 1 week ago
While the scoring rule of dropping the highs & lows is relevant. It's the swings of some of the judges on these 2 pairs that is noteworthy. Especially when compared to other competitors. There is a significant history in the Olympics of score "swapping" by judges. So, this situation is worthy of analysis & discussion...without the hysterics or denigrating either country or its people.
Load More Replies... Andrew Keir 1 week ago
Use of the phrase "we were robbed" is limited to Scottish fans after any match with England. Please don't steal our self-justifications.
Wat Tyler's Revenge 5 days ago
None of that yesterday! You come to Scotland, you're getting battered!
Load More Replies... d7k6jb2vqg 1 week ago
I just read that the US judge similarly gave the US pair their highest score and gave the French pair their third lowest score. So it cuts both ways.
brigitte tawa 1 week ago
I personally think the French couples was stunning on every levels. The american were excellent but to my opinion lacked poetry, emotion, beauty. I feel it is fair the FRENCH WON.
Sue Sasse 1 week ago
Seems to me, that judging in the skating arena has always been flawed. After all, judges are human. They have human biases and quirks. The complaints, here, have been echoed for decades. So, either come up with some sort of AI judging, or stfu. I'm an American, and have zero interest in all of this cry-babying. So, please don't think that all Americans have their panties in a wad, over skating.
Wat Tyler's Revenge 5 days ago
So that's two olympic ice dance comps thrown into controversy by a French judge. Maybe don't have French judges.
Stefan Groot 5 days ago (edited)
where is the options "Muricans shouldn't whine so much" or "Trump won the nobel peace price"?
JL 1 week ago
Why is there no rule barring a judge from scoring people from their own country? Also, other sports toss the highest and lowest scores to get rid of outliers. Ice skating doesn't do that?
martin734 6 days ago
Ice skating does discard the highest and lowest scores, so the if the French judges were over and under scoring, their scores would be dropped.
Load More Replies... Scott Rackley 1 week ago (edited)
Yes, only one judge saw through all that and saw the true greatness of the French and the terribleness of the US. That judge was French. Not any others, just the French judge.
JayWantsACat 1 week ago
People missing the point saying "oh no the Americans lost boo hoo". I could not care less that we lost but if you actually read and look at the data, the variance in scores with the French judges versus the other judges points to something going on. Whether you think that warrants mentioning or not is a different story. But don't act like the US duo demanded the results be overturned or that they're officially contesting the them. People complain Americans act boorish and, yet, comments here are no better.
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