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The American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the reigning three-time world champions contentiously missed out on Olympic ice dance gold on Wednesday despite a flawless skate. But the controversy surrounding the event is not merely a debate over artistic and technical merits.
Gold went by a narrow margin to the French duo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. It was a stunning achievement for a partnership that is less than a year old. But the union was forged after the fallout from sexual assault allegations levelled at Fournier Beaudry’s boyfriend and former ice dance partner, while Cizeron is the subject of allegations of abusive conduct from his erstwhile skating partner.
Nikolaj Sørensen, a 36-year-old Danish-Canadian ice dancer who is dating Fournier Beaudry, was banned by the Canadian skating governing body for at least six years in 2024 for “sexual maltreatment” related to allegations that he sexually assaulted an American coach and former skater in 2012. He denied the accusations and the suspension was overturned in 2025 on a technicality relating to questions of jurisdiction.
Fournier Beaudry has consistently defended Sorensen. They began skating together in 2012 and started dating the following year. In a recent Netflix documentary series, Glitter & Gold, she said felt like “collateral damage”.
She added: “When they decided to suspend him, it meant that his career was over, which also meant that my career was over … This was extremely difficult because it was not only about skating, it was about my integrity, it was about his integrity. I know my boyfriend 100%. I know him. And we [stood] strong together.”
The 31-year-old Cizeron has been accused of inappropriate behaviour by the French ice dancer Gabriella Papadakis. On the ice together since they were 10, the pair won gold in Beijing in 2022. But in a memoir released last month in France, So as Not to Disappear, Papadakis described Cizeron as “often controlling, demanding and critical” and said she refused to skate with him unless a coach was present. She accused him of “blood-chilling coldness” and said she was “terrified by the idea of finding myself alone with him”. Cizeron strongly rejected the claims, lamenting what he called a “smear campaign” and reportedly issuing a cease-and-desist letter.
Papadakis, who retired in December 2024, was dropped as a broadcaster by NBC last month after the book’s publication. The network told the Athletic that the circumstances made it impossible to guarantee that her commentary would be “free of bias – whether actual or perceived”.
The allegations have made for an uneasy atmosphere in Italy. In the Netflix series, the former US Olympian turned media analyst Adam Rippon described the Fournier Beaudry-Cizeron partnership as possessing “sinister energy”. Born in Montreal, Fournier Beaudry represented Canada and Denmark before switching her allegiance to France and making her international competitive debut with Cizeron last October. The 33-year-old was granted French citizenship three months ago.
In Milan the French pair, who also won a European Championships title in Sheffield last month, sought to deflect questions about the disputes, insisting they wanted to focus on their skating and exude “gratefulness”. But the woman who accused Sørensen of sexual assault said in a statement to the Canadian Press earlier this month that Fournier Beaudry’s defence of Sørensen fosters “a dangerous environment for skaters who need to report abuse … [and] further enforces the culture of silence in figure skating.”
Meanwhile, Chock and Bates, much-garlanded veterans in their fourth Olympics who married in 2024, were emotional after an outcome that Chock described as “bittersweet”. The pair, and many observers, felt their strong routine to a version of the Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black was worthy of gold. However, the judges’ decision saw them awarded silver, only 1.43 points behind the French pair (who skated to saturnine music from the film The Whale) and ahead of the bronze-winning Canadians, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
“All four performances we had here at the Olympics, we’re very proud of,” Chock told reporters. “They were flawless for us. We couldn’t have skated any better, and we’re super proud with how we took the ice, how we handled ourselves every time. The rest is out of our hands.”
