By Rory Carroll
MILAN, Feb 15 (Reuters) – U.S. Figure Skating will not appeal Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ score from the ice dance final, which drew the ire of some fans and forced the veteran Americans to settle for silver at the Milano Cortina Games.
Chock and Bates, who had been undefeated all season, said they felt like they had skated a winning performance in Wednesday’s free dance.
Their fans agreed, and created an online petition calling for the International Skating Union (ISU) and International Olympic Committee to review the scoring, which led to France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron claiming gold.
U.S. Figure Skating praised the pair’s “world-class” performances in Northern Italy, which included playing a key role in securing the U.S. a gold medal in the team event earlier in the Games.
“There has been a lot of thoughtful, and at times emotional, discussion about the Ice Dance competition in Milan,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said in a statement on Sunday.
“Working together with Madi and Evan after the Games, we will have thoughtful and intentional discussions about the best way to support them and the future of the sport,” he said.
“For now, we plan to join them in supporting the success of the U.S. Figure Skating team in Milan.”
While U.S. Figure Skating’s statement did not explicitly say it would not appeal the scoring, the window of time for an appeal to be requested has passed.
Beaudry and Cizeron won the gold with a total of 225.82 points, while the Americans earned 224.39.
Much of the outrage stemmed from the fact French judge Jezabel Dabouis favoured Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron by nearly eight points over the three-time world champion Americans in the free dance.
The ISU on Friday said it had “full confidence in the scores given,” adding that multiple layers of review are built into the judging system to reduce discrepancies and ensure fairness.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in MilanEditing by Toby Davis)
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