When Madison Chock and Evan Bates missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in Beijing in 2022, the goal was not to let history repeat itself. After all, 15 years of hard work went in when they finally landed in Milan for the ice dance event in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Though they stood on the podium with a ‘bittersweet’ silver as the French pair Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron took home gold, there was a growing sentiment that the couple had been robbed. Soon enough, the noise grew louder.

As questions were rife about fairness in the scoring system of the ice dance event, former American Olympian Polina Edmunds took to Instagram and uploaded a video gushing about the performance of Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron, saying, “Everything that they were doing from my ankle was so beautiful, and I didn’t want to look up at the jumbotron at all. I just wanted to keep my eyes on them live.” 

However, the comment section of the same post carried disagreement, as Amber Glenn wrote: “Oh Polina you’ve lost me here girl.”

Even previously, Glenn had voiced her opinion that the real winner in her eyes was the American pair: “My Olympic champions, gracious people, incredible athletes, amazing entertainers.”

Polina Edmunds’ observation drew backlash as more details about the judging panel and scoring breakdown emerged. French duo Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry secured Olympic gold by just 1.43 points ahead of Madison Chock and Evan Bates, despite the American pair delivering two clean and technically strong programs.

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The narrow margin immediately drew attention, especially as many observers believed the Americans had performed at a gold-medal level skating to their Lenny Kravitz medley. To top that, they had entered the Winter Olympics as gold-medal favorites.

The French judge, in particular, gave Chock and Bates the lowest Free Dance score (129.74) among all nine judges, placing them far below the panel’s overall average. At the same time, he awarded one of the highest scores (137.45 ) to his fellow French athletes, who performed their interpretation of soundtrack pieces from the movie The Whale, placing them well above the average given by other judges.

However, the couple accepted the result with grace.

“Life is… Sometimes you can feel like you do everything right and it doesn’t go your way,” Bates said. “And that’s life, and that’s sport, and it’s a subjective sport, it’s a judge sport. One fact, we did our best, we skated our best. We felt like we were very close.”

While the official results remain unchanged, the scoring breakdown has fueled an ongoing debate about transparency and impartiality in Olympic figure skating judging.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates address the ongoing controversy

Madison Chock and Evan Bates addressed the controversy surrounding their silver-medal finish in the Olympic ice dance event. The American pair entered as favorites after winning three consecutive world titles and delivered strong performances in both the rhythm dance and free dance.

When asked about how they felt about the judging, the couple mentioned that the past week had been emotionally heavy for them. This came after the duo expressed pride in their longstanding career of 15 years on ice.

“We’ve certainly gone through a roller coaster of emotions, especially in the last 24 hours,” Chock said. “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.”

Already two-time team gold medalists at the Games, Chock and Bates were hoping to add an individual Olympic gold to their achievements. After their free dance, they watched as Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron delivered the final routine. The French pair scored 135.64 in the free dance for a total of 225.82, which was enough to secure gold ahead of the Americans.

The result was especially meaningful for Chock and Bates, who had hoped to finally receive their individual Olympic gold on the podium after delays surrounding their 2022 team medals, but instead had to settle for silver amid the ongoing controversy.