Posted on 02/13/2026 9:15:25 AM PST by Morgana
The 'rigging' scandal engulfing the Winter Olympics is showing no signs of slowing down after Team USA's gutted ice skaters called for the judges to be 'vetted', and thousands of fans urged the authorities to investigate.
French judge Jezabel Dabouis sparked fury this week after allegations she 'rigged' her votes to help her country to Winter Olympics gold, in turn voting down Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who eventually ended up with the silver.
In the past 24 hours, more than 14,000 fans have signed a Change.org petition calling for the IOC and International Skating Union to intervene and launch a probe into the voting process, but so far nothing has been forthcoming.
In fact, the ISU has opted to stand by her, issuing its first statement late on Thursday.
'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,' it read, adding it has 'full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.'
Chock and Bates have since spoken to CBS News about the dubious judging after allegations the competition was 'rigged' against them.
Chock said: '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.
'I think it's also important for the skaters, that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are also putting out their best performance.
'There's a lot on the line for the skaters when they're out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The judging in Olympic figure skating, keeping in mind that it is a subjective judgement, has always been weighted against the USA as far as I can remember. It’s time that stopped.
Olympics,vote rigging? Old News
So enjoying missing the Global Olympics.
Has anyone checked to see if the judge bet on the games?
Ice dancing isn’t a sport so…
Ice skating, ice dancing, and gymnastics are not sports. They are performance arts and are scored by feelings.
Like an NBA player shooting a last second shot, he misses, but looks really great “doing it” so you give him the 3 points anyway. Or a shot at the basket goes in after a clumsy trip and throw goes into the basket, but it was just lucky, so you disallow the score. THAT would be like the so called sports of skating, dancing and gymnastics.
Do you hear yourself? You said “one of them”. There are many speaking out about being proud to be there representing our country.
Chock and Bates both have said they are honored to represent the country.
We can’t win these wars with an attitude that punishes the good ones for the actions of a few.
Frankie Laine !
And THIS is why I don’t watch the Olympics. Just can’t keep politics out if it.
It would be a bigger shock if there WASN’T a judging scandal at the Olympics.
Judges from neutral countries, maybe ??
Didn’t watch a SECOND of this, BUT I will say the American’s UGLY GREEN OUTFITS were no match for the beautiful red and black ones. Maybe they got dinged for bad taste in outfits.
Figure skating is not really a sport. There are no objective means to measure winner and loser. It’s completely subjective. The reason to watch it is for its beauty, it should only be an exhibition event.
ClassActually, London, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago
Avid watcher and armchair judge for nearly 60 years. The USA were far superior. I was sure they had won and I only support GB, for my sins.
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Guy Lafleur, Paris, France, 3 hours ago
check the judges social media for severe TDS
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clara belle, New York, 4 hours ago
The French always cheat. That is why they don’t allow paternity testing.
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Cacats, Dunnville, Canada, 4 hours ago
Not surprising that the French judge cheated. They are so dishonest in most things they do. The whole country should be banned from the olympics for a year and the award taken back
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Nick, Battle, United Kingdom, 3 hours ago
You think that because you have no history. Britain was fighting the French for hundreds of years and, yeah, they do win a fair bit of the time. In fact, it was because of the French that we always had to keep our best troops near Britain, in case of invasion, and 250 years ago American settlers fought our second stringers. You should be grateful to the French.
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Humphrey Blogut, Bugtussle, United States, 3 hours ago
Crooked Froggie skating judge? Surprise!
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Siwn, Switzerland, Switzerland, 1 hour ago
What a surprise. Yet another case of cheating by judges. Sadly, this has been happening for decades in all sports requiring judges/referees. Fortunately, the majority are honest. However with all the films and photos taken it should be fairly easy to have review of the contested error and if the judge is found guilty they should be banned for life and the competitors forfeit their medals.
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Summer4Ever, Arizona, United States, 3 hours ago
The fact the French Judge’s score for the French team was OVER 2 standard deviations higher is RIDICULOUS!!
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FightThePower9, PC World, United Kingdom, 4 hours ago
I have watched almost ALL of the Winter Olympics and can confirm that America should have won at least 90% of the medals but that they were denied to them because of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) among the lefty and woke EUROPEAN judges.
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Setter123, Lancaster, United Kingdom, 3 hours ago
There is a clear anti American problem with authorities in Europe and uk,the Americans were the better skaters it was obvious,
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USA Girl, LA, United States, 2 hours ago
Actually, they were not. They had several mistakes that should’ve had points deducted and the US skated a flawless routine. But, you go ahead with your bias.
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Stike1873, Detroit, United States, 4 hours ago
Of course it’s an arrogant French judge. The frogs only care about their own
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carrot1960, UK, United Kingdom, 4 hours ago
The French judges constantly favours her fellow citizens , it can’t be pure chance that she continually sees a performance that the other eight judges fail to see , add in the fact that she also down plays the performance of those challenging the French skaters when no one else does , says she is corrupt and should not be banned for life
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Ml-2024f, New York for now, United States, 4 hours ago
The simple answer going forward, but unfortunate for the other winners, is that no longer can a French judge be on the panel.
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LakesideHappier, Lakeside, United States, 3 hours ago
My question is who PAID the French Ice Skating Judge Dubois to score the USA team so low??
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Mose18360, Smallville, United States, 3 hours ago
So France has replaced the Soviet Union and East German judges as the jokes of the world.
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LakesideHappier, Lakeside, United States, 3 hours ago
This is not the first time that French Judge Dubois has given the French skaters a higher than usual score. But 4 points?? For a pair of skaters who gave a truly remarkable program according to the other judges? If this Judge is not investigated the French skaters will forever be tainted!!
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Gart Williams, A Stop at Willoughby, United States, 3 hours ago
The French have inferiority complex. The know they are second class
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Bunch of spoiled rotten America hating pukes. Who cares. I fart in your general direction.
Three more. The skate boarders. The curlers
Who has spoken out stands or?
No one.
I’m done
They have spoken out and said they were proud to represent America.
Why do you think they should have to get involved with what a few azzholes do and say?
These people are there to compete, not play politics. This kind of crap gets them off their game. They are not the ones who said that. I am all for flaming the azzholes. But I am not for dragging others who never said anything like that into it.
By the way, its snow boarders, not skate borders.
I believe the highest and lowest scores for each element are thrown out...maybe the same should be done for the final totals or judges should recuse themselves from their own country competitors.
These scandals are getting too regular for the ISU to not at least acknowledge a problem.
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