As a longtime Winter Olympics enthusiast, I enjoy watching the games like most of the country, with an emphasis on the figure skating portion.
But I have to disagree with the ruling for the ice dance.
I believe that the U.S. team, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, should have won gold instead of the French team, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. I am a spectator enjoying the artistry, but even as a spectator, I could clearly see the difference in performance.
The chemistry between the couples stood out to me the most when watching both performances. Watching Chock and Bates’ performance, you can tell their chemistry is impeccable. Their skating partnership began in 2011, and they married in 2024. You can clearly see how in sync the two are. They do a wonderful job matching their choreography to the music they chose for their routine.
The song choice for their routine was a cover of “Paint It Black” by Ramin Djawadi. Despite being a powerful and suspenseful song, Chock and Bates executed it beautifully. In their performance, Bates represented a bull, while Chock represented the matador. The pair both wore sleek black outfits, while Chock had red on her dress, which doubled as a “red cape” used by matadors.
Power and confidence are the two words that I would say best describe their performance. From the untrained eye and spectators’ point of view, anyone can clearly see perfect execution and chemistry.
The routine from the French team Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron did not have the same impact compared to the U.S. team. Their routine was elegant and technically strong, but even with an untrained eye, I could see some of their mistakes. Most notably, the mistake that I refer to is their execution of the twizzle, a fast one-foot spin that moves you across the ice.
While watching Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron’s execution of the twizzle, you can clearly see they are out of sync. But this error did not cost them any significant points, and they still won Gold with a narrow point margin of 225.82 to 224.39 over Chock and Bates.
In 2022, Fournier Beaudry’s former partner, Nikolah Sorensen, had a twizzle error that resulted in the pair dropping to ninth place.
While the results are official and the French team’s talent is undeniable, I believe Chock and Bates delivered the more complete and memorable performance. When gold medals are decided by fractions of a point, artistry, chemistry, and visible precision matter. The results should reflect that – Chock and Bates deserved the top spot on the podium.
