French Biathlon Gold Medalist Recently Convicted of Credit Card Fraud Shushes Crowd

France's Julia Simon has won two gold medals during the 2026 Winter Olympics. Of course, that's not the main reason the internet is talking about Simon today because she was recently convicted of fraud for using teammate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet's credit card in 2022. With people picking up on this story Simon then made a shushing gesture with her finger as she crossed the finish line of the women's 15km individual on Wednesday as the winner.
Simon was convicted in October. She was fined €15,000 and sentenced to a three-month suspended jail term. After the legal stuff was sorted out the French ski federation stepped in and handed her a six-month ban.
Announcing a six-month ban from competition for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics silver medalist three months before the Milan Cortina Games wasn't going to help the medal count so they then suspended five months of Simon's ban, which ensured this would be one of the top two strangest biathlon-related storylines during the Winter Games.
Meanwhile, Braisaz-Bouchet finished 80th in the 15km which Simon won. Both women will compete in one more event at the 2026 Winter Olympics when they do the 12.5km mass start next Saturday. Braisaz-Bouchet won gold in the event in Beijing.
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Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.
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