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The International Skating Union defended a judge’s controversial scoring that left Madison Chock and Evan Bates just short of Olympic gold earlier this week.
Chock and Bates settled for silver after Jezabel Dabouis favored Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron by almost eight points over the three-time world champions in free dance.
“It is normal for there to be a variety of scores given by different judges on any panel and various mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations,” the ISU said, adding that it has “full confidence in the scores given and remains fully committed to fairness.”
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USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates with the silver medals (left) and France’s Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry with the gold medals (right) after the figure skating ice dance, free dance, at the Milano Ice Skating Arena on the fifth day of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Italy. Photo date: Wednesday February 11, 2026. (Fabrizio Carabelli/PA Images via Getty Images)
Chock called for the judges to be investigated for the sake of transparency.
“It would definitely be helpful if it was more comprehensible for viewers, to see more transparent trials and understand…what’s really going on,” he told CBS News.
“I think it’s also important for the skaters that the judges are vetted and reviewed to make sure they are giving their best performance as well,” he continued. “Because there’s a lot at stake for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all, and we deserve for the judges to give it their all too and for it to be a fair and level playing field.”
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States compete during the figure skating ice free skate at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangué)
Chock later said she and Bates would “consider” an appeal.
“I think skating is a very subjective sport, but I think, to be fair, it’s good that the judges are evaluated on their work. Not just after this competition, but at every competition, to ensure that there is a fair and equal playing field for all athletes,” Chock told Access Hollywood.
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“We did everything we could. We wouldn’t have changed anything about our performance, any of our performances or how we approached the week. We are very proud of the work we did; we left no stone unturned, so we can come out of the Games feeling satisfied and fulfilled with ourselves.”
Chock and Bates were following the french couple by 0.46 points entering free dance on Wednesday night, and were looking for their first Olympic ice dance medal hoping it would obviously be gold. But the judges decided that the French duo did enough to defeat the Americans in the end.
Dabouis’ margin was so large that if his score had been removed from the equation, Chock and Bates would have won gold.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates pose for a photo after the Milan 2026 Olympic Games figure skating team announcement at the Enterprise Center on January 11, 2026. (Jeff Curry/Image Images)
Many critics have called the system too confusing and still too subjective, and more than 14,000 people had signed a petition on Change.org as of Friday calling on the ISU and IOC to investigate the latest scoring controversy.
