Madison Chock urged officials to review the judging going forward, saying it would do justice to the athletes who grace the Olympic stage after years of hard work. Chock and Evan Bates finished in the runners-up position behind the French duo Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron in the free dance final.
The American duo came off helping the team win gold, earning the medal for the second consecutive time at the Olympics.
Madison Chock Gets Real about Judging Controversy in the Ice Dance at 2026 Winter Games
Madison Chock and her husband, Evan Bates, have been making waves on the rink for years, competing in multiple global competitions and adding laurels to their résumé. In their already decorated ice dance career, the only thing missing was an individual Olympic gold. But that dream also ended on the Milan-Cortina stage, when they finished just 1.43 points behind the winners.
The result sparked doubts about the scoring after it emerged that French judge Jezabel Dabouis’s marks for the winners were higher than the overall mean. While five of the nine judges favored the American couple, Dabouis appeared to show bias by awarding Beaudry and Cizeron a 137.45 and giving Chock and Bates a 129.74.
Following the feat, the three-time World gold medalist addressed the controversy and urged for transparent judging so that both viewers and athletes could better understand the scoring. She also noted that the scores must be reviewed, as everyone competing on the marquee stage has put in a lot of work to reach that level.
She said: “I think it would definitely be helpful if it’s more understandable for the viewers to just see more transparent judging and understand what’s really going on.
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.”
Chock and her partner won three World titles consecutively in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Bates, 36, called their loss “bittersweet” and confidently said they wouldn’t change a single thing about how they approached the individual competition.
He also noted that they have enjoyed an incredible career and have a lot to be proud of, drawing support from their family and coaches and motivation from each other. It was their first individual Olympic podium after three previous editions, 2014, 2018, and 2022.
The couple amassed 15 medals at the US Championships and seven medals at the Grand Prix Final.
