ISU defends Olympic ice dance scoring amid French controversy

"There is little recourse for the U.S. team if the global governing body is unwilling to investigate the scoring discrepancy. This is not the first time Dabouis has turned in questionable scores for Beaudry and Cizeron. At the Grand Prix Final in December, when Chock and Bates beat them in their only other head-to-head matchup, the judge had the Americans narrowly beating them in the free dance despite two deductions, including an egregious fall. The French team wound up with a silver medal."

""It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judge in any panel and a number of mechanism are used to mitigate these variations," the ISU said, adding it has "full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.""

""Any time the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport," said Chock, who along with Bates won a second straight team gold medal earlier in the Games. "I think it's hard to retain fans when it's difficult to understand what is happening on the ice. "People need to understand what they're cheering for and be able to feel confident in the sport that they're supporting.""

The International Skating Union stands by the ice dance judging at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics despite controversy over scores from a French judge. Jezabel Dabouis scored Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron nearly eight points higher than Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the free dance, a margin that, if excluded, would have changed the gold medal outcome. The ISU said score ranges among judges are normal and that mechanisms mitigate variations while expressing confidence in fairness. The U.S. team faces little recourse. Dabouis previously produced questionable margins favoring the French team at the Grand Prix Final and in the Olympic rhythm dance.

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