The ISU (International Skating Union) have responded to major judging controversy around a medal decision at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
On Wednesday, the free dance took place in Milan to decide the medals handed out in figure skating - with Canada duo Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier securing bronze after a genius move to avoid a points deduction in the rhythm dance.
The United States, represented by Madison Chock and Evan Bates, collected a silver medal with a total score of 224.39 - made up of 89.72 in the rhythm dance and 134.67 in the free dance.
But it was the French team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron who emerged victorious and claimed the gold medal with a total score of 225.82.
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However, their win has been tinged by controversy - to the point where a petition has been launched calling for an investigation into how judges awarded France gold.
In terms of the rhythm dance, five judges gave France the best score, with three opting for the American team of Chock and Bates.
When it came to the free dance, five of the nine judges had Chock and Bates first.
But in both instances, the French judge had Cizeron and Beaudry much higher than Chock and Bates - 7.71 points higher in the free dance and 5.74 points higher in the rhythm dance.
The petition set up on Change.org said that it "is alleged that the scoring lacked transparency, and specific moves which should have attracted penalties were overlooked"
There is a demand for "immediate attention to uphold the spirit of fair play and competition, which the Olympic Games are built upon".
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Skating Union (ISU) have been urged to take decisive action in the form of an investigation into the judging process and ensure judging remains "impartial and meticulous".
More than 13,000 people have signed the petition, but the ISU have responded and remain confident that there was no ill-will in the judging.
"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," an ISU spokesperson said.
"The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness."
Chock and Bates have won three straight world championships in a row but the silver medal is their biggest achievement in the Olympics
“We’ve certainly gone through a roller coaster of emotions, especially in the last 24 hours,” Chock commented, as per NBC News.
“And I think what we will take away is how we felt right after our skates and how proud we were of what we accomplished and how we handled ourselves throughout the whole week. Putting out four great performances at the Olympic Games is no small feat, and we’ve got a lot to be proud of.”
On the result, Bates added: “I feel like life is sometimes you can feel like you do everything right and it doesn’t go your way, and that’s life and that’s sport. And it’s a subjective sport. It’s a judged sport.”
The figure-skating event at the the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan saw judges Yuri Balkov and Jean Senft banned after the Canadian told officials of the former's idea to rig votes.
Topics: Olympics
Josh Lawless