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French Olympians Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron are pushing back on criticism surrounding their Winter Games gold.
A French judge’s controversial decision handed the French duo an edge over Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates. French judge Jézabel Dabouis scored Beaudry and Cizeron nearly eight points higher than Chock and Bates, who ultimately settled for silver. Without Dabouis’ marks, the Americans would have earned the top podium spot.
As criticism mounted, Beaudry and Cizeron joined the growing chorus questioning how points were awarded.
The French duo said they believed they deserved a higher score in their gold-medal performance at Milan Cortina. Beaudry and Cizeron argued their routine was more technically demanding than Team USA’s.
“We had the goal of winning by five to seven points, but we made a few mistakes that cost us three or four points,” Cizeron told the “Super Moscato Show on RMC.”
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“Winning the gold after just one year of working together, that’s kind of an achievement.”
“It’s a mental battle to keep going and link the elements together, to get back into it and go for the points,” Cizeron added. “You have to cut off those negative thoughts that come in very quickly, and that’s where twenty years of experience come into play.”
Cizeron concluded by highlighting what he and Beaudry lean on when moments like this arise. “I think that our friendship … allowed us to overcome all this pressure.”
The International Skating Union backed the scoring.
“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,” the ISU said, adding it has “full confidence in the scores given and remain completely committed to fairness.”
U.S. Figure Skating has declined to appeal the decision. However, Team USA’s Chock urged clearer scoring standards and tougher oversight of judges.
“Any time the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport,” the American ice dancer 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.”
“We know how we felt on center ice after we skated. We felt like we delivered our absolute best performance that we could have. It was our Olympic moment. It felt like a winning skate to us, and that’s what we’re going to hold on to.
“I think it’s also important for the skaters, that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are also putting out their best performance because there’s a lot on the line for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field.”
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