ISU Defends Olympic Judging After American Duo Calls for Vetting

Earlier this week, Team USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates controversially fell short of the gold medal in the ice dancing competition, earning the silver instead as France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron claimed the gold.

Many believed that Chock and Bates were more deserving of the gold, especially after Beaudry and Cizeron had visible errors in their final dance. Notably, a French judge gave Beaudry and Cizeron a significantly higher score than Chock and Bates, helping them earn the gold.

After the performance, Chock called for more transparent judging as well as for judges to be vetted.

“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,” Chock said, via CBS News. “I think it’s also important for the skaters that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are putting out their best performance. There’s a lot on the line for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all. We deserve to have the judges also giving us their all, and for it to be a fair and even playing field.”

The International Skating Union has since defended the judging of the event. A spokesperson for the union said, "It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations. The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”

Chock and Bates will settle for the silver, adding the third Olympic medal to their tally. They additionally have two gold medals in the team event.

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