On Wednesday, February 11th, 2026, Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won the ice dance event at the Olympic Games in Milano, Italy. Representing France, they posted a score of 225.82 to take the gold medal away from heavy favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States (224.39). Instead of inspiring figure skating fans across the world, though, the duo’s win ignited a firestorm of criticism across social media.
Some of the criticism concerned controversial scoring by the French judge; other comments voiced sympathetic disappointment over the Americans’ loss. However, the majority of public disapproval originated from the fact that Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron are sexual assault apologists, having defended their close friend against allegations for the past two years.
Some background here: prior to the 2025-26 season, Fournier-Beaudry was partnered with Nikolaj Soerensen, who is also her current boyfriend. In October of 2024, Soerensen received a six-year ban from the sport after he was accused of sexually assaulting an unnamed American figure skater and current coach in 2012. Although Soerensen’s suspension was overturned due to a technicality, his case (made public in January 2024), remains under review. Cizeron was the 2022 Olympic champion with his partner, Gabriella Papadakis. They officially retired in 2024 and since then, Papadakis has accused Cizeron of being “controlling, demanding, and critical,” which created an unsafe and unwelcoming environment for her during their career.
In early 2025, the two paired up and ascended through the ranks of the ice dancing world rapidly. Their rapid success as a new team was unprecedented in ice dance, and they quickly became contenders for the gold medal at the Games. However, throughout the season, they have defended Soerensen against the allegations, including on the Netflix documentary “Glitter and Gold” (2026). Because of Cizeron’s comments about her, Papadakis was fired from her role as an NBC commentator for the Olympics as well. And after they got their results, Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron celebrated with Soerensen, who was present as a spectator.
In some ways, it’s hard not to feel bad for Chock and Bates. After four Olympic Games together (with Bates on his fifth overall), three World gold medals, seven national titles, and dozens of silvers and bronzes, losing the one medal they don’t have must have been devastating. It certainly looked that way. But Chock and Bates are, in some ways, complicit as apologists, although they are not necessarily as vocal as Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron. Though not questioned in the same way as their training mates, Chock and Bates remain defendants of Soerensen – he was at their wedding in 2024. In fact, they regularly spend time with him, Fournier-Beaudry, and Cizeron in social contexts.
Figure skating has a long history of failing its female participants, from how it punished Tonya Harding to how it dealt with the doping and abuse of young Russian athletes. The way it has rewarded Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron’s partnership, born out of the abuse of not one, but two female athletes, is at the very least reprehensible. At its worst, it is a failure of the International Skating Union (ISU) to protect its athletes. By rewarding Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron and supporting them publicly, the ISU has undone years of progress on protections for athletes of all ages. When the sport’s most public and powerful faces defend sexual assault, no skater, child or adult, is safe.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit hotline.rainn.org.