2026 Olys Free Dance PBP - Whale, Are We Ready For Some Bull Sheet Scores?

Christine and Anthony were wonderful.

Emilea and Vadim especially better be on that Olympic podium in 4 years. They are FIRE! 🔥

CRUSHED for Lilah and Lewis. I LOVE their FD and would have loved to see them on the podium.🥺

I could never get into Piper and Paul's 'Vincent' FD, in large part because no one but Don McLean can do that song justice IMO. But yesterday the Olympic Magic Dust was sprinkled all over their FD! I am thrilled that they got the bronze that they deserved!

Maddie and Evan were magnificent. And they were ROBBED. No one is going to convince me otherwise so don't even try.

Laurence and Guillaume were shaky on their twizzles BOTH days and their FD was a dud.

As far as I'm concerned that Whale was BEACHED! The judges giving them perfect scores and HUGE GOE all over the place was disgusting. But then, I already knew that the fix was in after they won the RD with obvious errors.

I hope that Guillaume takes his 2 Olympic gold medals and Vogues off into the sunset. And takes Laurence and her questionable baggage with him. ETA: #IBelieveGabby

It's only because of the great young ice dancers like Emilea and Vadim that I'm even going to bother to keep watching that discipline.
 
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overedge said:
Just watched the NBC primitive coverage. Andrea Joyce (I think it was her) is a really bad interviewer. "What about the tears" - well they just got jobbed out of a gold medal, do you expect them to be happy about it? Geez.
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It’s her job to ask, not presume.
 
Just finished watching almost all of the replay. (There were a few skips here and there: I never imagined that Les Le Gacs would be duller than Fabbri/Ayer, but I bailed partway through their program.)

I think Chock/Bates' program was a miss, too choppy and disjointed. The skirt was more of a distraction and black tights do nothing for lines; I think they would have needed her elegant lines and beautiful shapes in addition to a convincing story to have pulled off a win against Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron in a way that they wouldn't need them against any other team. I think Lopareva/Brissaud would have been a riot doing that program ironically ala Rakhama/Kokko's Tchaikovsky program, given the circumstances of the season, instead of a different kind of miss. Smart/Dieck might not have much going on between a dozen highlight moves, too, but they looked so smooth going between each one; they're so much better when they don't have to be sharp.

To continue my kvetch-fest, there have been teams that have successfully brought out the bull in a male partner who was generally considered a reliable plus one but not the one many noticed, and have given him an experimental program mid-cycle to make him the focus, like Marinin in Cotton Club and Kostomarov in Pink Panther, and then they build on that presence leading up to the Olympics. If they wanted it to be a fair contest, instead of Bates again being the mere mortal following after Chock's out-of-his-league hot goddess, they needed to start last season, the latest, IMO.

By the time C/B skated, Guignard/Fabbri had already shown lines and musical sweep, and Gilles/Poirier had delivered a more delicate and emotional skate with curves and interweaving patterns. After them, as much as I wish this were not true, Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron had deep knees, constant glide, full-bodied movement, long lines, mostly seamless transitions from one element to another, beautiful shapes, and elegance, and I think they skated rings around Chock/Bates, at least on the stream. I could take or leave the program, but it was a great vehicle for them to show their strengths. That's what IAM does when they think it's worth putting in the effort.

I think Fear/Gibson are about as high as I think is warranted in general, but I'm sorry that it took a specific technical mistake and dashed hopes for that to happen.

I get why Reed/Ambrulevicius' RD is trashy entertainment, but I don't understand how anyone can stay awake for their FD.

Wow is Kolesnik good.

I wasn't overly impressed by Perfume the first time, and I didn't like it much better this time. I'm glad Zingas/Kolesnik seemed to have broken Carriera/Ponomarenko's lock on US 2, because I think they are close to their ceiling now.

I loved watching Reitan/Majorov, Bekker/Hernandez, and Turkkila/Versluis in the earlier groups. I have a love (the skaters/skating)/hate (the material) relationship with Lajoie/Lagha, the Taschlers, and Lopareva/Brissaud. I'm having a hard time seeing how the Taschlers will go forward; I hope Margalio, Brown, and maybe Scali have some tricks up their sleeves. In the meantime, I can't stop pairing them up with other skaters in my head. I know that some of the performances I liked weren't perfect, but the only one where that bothered me was Davis/Smolkin's, which I thought was a bit flat, if still a lovely program. She really cleans up nicely.
 
@VGThuy I believe the point of view in The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond is a man who died in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, and that's why he and his sweetheart will never meet again on that loch's bonnie banks.

I'm with you on the Kerrs, and that was an excellent recap!
 
I hope Fear and Gibson are feeling a bit less despondent this morning.

Nice tweet from BISA, which puts things in perspective.

They've delivered GB’s best Olympic ice dance result since '94, inspired audiences across the world, and represented GB with heart, authenticity, and unmistakable style. Athletes. Trailblazers. True ambassadors, now & forever. Lilah and Lewis - we could not be prouder

Realistically, they weren't going to win bronze anyway with how Gilles and Poirier skated (and also with the judging panel).
 
MsZem said:
@VGThuy I believe the point of view in The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond is a man who died in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, and that's why he and his sweetheart will never meet again on that loch's bonnie banks.

I'm with you on the Kerrs, and that was an excellent recap!
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But it was John Kerr, in a hot kilt ! I mean he was hot and in a kilt 😜.Shallow me just loves that program more than F/G's ...
 
Is it possible to feel hungover from an event that didn’t include drinking? If I feel like this this morning, I can only imagine how the skaters feel.

Whoever posted that the staccato flamenco didn’t lend itself to ice dance as well as the long swooping movements of LB/C (and for that matter G/P) got it right. I think I was unconsciously waiting for a big ta-da moment from Chock and Bates that didn’t happen.

Some very good ice dancers have lost to Cizeron and partner over the last decade, only Virtue and Moir beat them. To me Cizeron is so naturally gifted at what he does that it’s utterly frustrating to compete with him, kinda the Bill Clinton of ice dancers. And Clinton wasn’t the most upstanding human being either.

So I understand how Chock and Bates feel but it couldn’t be helped, they did their best and now have two team golds and an individual silver. They could have ended up like Guinard/Fabbri or Hawayek/Baker or other talented teams who for one reason or another never won an Oly or even a Worlds medal. C’est la vie.
 
Don`t have the strength to go through whole thread. Just a mention of the Italians - for 2 reasons. First, they delivered an emotional, lovely skate (their programs have recieved a lot of cirticism this year). Second, their grace towards towards Pier/Paul. Particularly Marco showed he understood what this meant to the Canadians. No bitterness to their rival.

Are they retiring this year as well?
 
Kateri said:
I almost agree with you. I don't think off-ice stuff should affect the judging, and they are incredible skaters.

But FB/C got 8.44 for the twizzles, with an egregious error. G/F had a more minor error, and got 6.88. Give FB/C the rest of the points, but dock him where he messed up. One less point, and he loses gold, and I'm incredibly far from a C/B fan, but I think that should have happened.
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Nobody came to argue with me, so I'm arguing with myself, because I slept on it, and still don't really know what I think.

I stand by what I wrote, but the obvious comeback is that C/B were also overscored on twizzles (9.54), and the overall dance and skating is more than a couple of points weaker than FB/C. Which is probably fair.

I dunno. I only know that I was gonna feel unsatisfied whatever happened, and I preferred the G/P, G/F, Z/K podium we had before the top 2 skated.
 
Even though watching on TV can be misleading, FB/C seemed twice as fast and easily covered more ice than Chock/Bates, who seemed to be one of the slower teams in the top 10, at least. I also thought that when they moved to Montreal, they’d allow Evan to develop as an artist and improve his presence because he had presence when he was younger with Emily and his older coaches before they moved to Igor. Instead, Marie-France, Roman, and Patrice doubled down on making him invisible.

Btw, I thought the best actual dancers, in terms of carriage and movement, were Reitan/Majorov. Of course, they placed last in the FD, which seems about right with the how ice dance judging is.
 
Rewatched the top 3 on a proper TV.

I enjoyed Gilles and Poirier even more on a second viewing. I am rarely moved emotionally by skating programs, but theirs did it. Probably the best they've ever skated and I remain glad they were rewarded.

As for the top two, Chock and Bates' program has grown on me over the course of the season and can't argue that they skated it the best they have in both team event and individual. They still look slow and I don't really feel the composition built up to anything, but the elements were generally well executed.

Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron: Definitely saw the twizzle error on second view. I think they were a bit lucky she was partly shielding him from the judges, but it was right at the end of the twizzle sequence and I feel like it was penalised appropriately with the drop in level and lower GOE (giving side-eye to the judges who gave them a +4 though).

Really hard to compare two very different programs, both of which don't have much variation in the music across the programs, but for me the French had the better composition. Looking at the protocols similar seems to be reflected there, and their skating skills are also rightly marked as superior. Their edges and turns are just so smooth and clear.

Looks like the two team were marked equal in Presentation, which I think is fair.

I really didn't care which team won, but having viewed again I think the results was correct.
 
VGThuy said:
Even though watching on TV can be misleading, FB/C seemed twice as fast and easily covered more ice than Chock/Bates, who seemed to be one of the slower teams in the top 10, at least.
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My perception in the arena was the complete opposite, and this is where I do think AI and technology in general could replace perception with facts. I’m sure you’ll find people in the arena with both perceptions breaking down along predictable lines. Happy to be proven wrong, but I’d only trust technology and not humans.

I do think C&B’s final footwork sequence slowed considerably in both the team event and the final. That really doesn’t leave a good impression and was why I thought they didn’t have a chance barring mistakes from FB&C, which of course did happen.

No question FB&C accelerate more quickly and smoothly with better glide. Of course it’s also easier to do so with a program that’s so open, requires almost no time in unison, and with obvious unison breaks on the few elements that did require unison :shuffle:.

Five judges saw it the way l did. Chock and Bates probably never had a chance with this panel, which was literally the luckiest possible draw for FB&C. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Ask Lobacheva and Averbukh. I watch ice dance like I watch ballet. I don’t believe judging has much legitimacy, or ever has, and would vote to kick it out of the Olympics because it is far too subjective and open to manipulation (including sometimes for C&B).

In the mean time, I wish the ISU would implement some rules to make GoE less flexible, more based in reality, and with harsher mandatory penalties for errors. It’s at least as big of a problem as falls in singles, which continues to receive attention. Regardless of what side people are on, I think most would agree that top teams receive different treatment on GoE and we should have more “Fear and Gibson” style movement when there are mistakes.
 
kwanfan1818 said:
I think Chock/Bates' program was a miss, too choppy and disjointed. The skirt was more of a distraction and black tights do nothing for lines; I think they would have needed her elegant lines and beautiful shapes in addition to a convincing story to have pulled off a win against Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron in a way that they wouldn't need them against any other team.
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I’ve read this opinion from several different posters, that the matador/bull program was a miss. Honest question, what type of program/music would you suggest CB had used instead?
 
I was too overwhelmed and still teary from Piper and Paul's skate to really focus on the first two. But I feel like had Guillaume and Laurence skated lights out and made 0 errors, fewer people would be creaming that Chock/Bates were robbed.

And yet despite the imperfect performance, if I look at it objectively, I shouldn't be upset that the French won. They are the superior skaters. Their programme, despite it being very different to everyone else's, is mesmerizing. Chock/Bates have often been criticised for their skating skills, their twizzles, and their programmes and now suddenly everyone loves them and thinks they were robbed. Why?

Obviously because noone is happy that Laurence and Guillaume are Olympic Gold medalists. Let's face it. We are all biased, whether we admit it or not. And if you're American, add another level of bias.

It could have gone both ways, and it went this way. I so wish it had gone the other way.
 
I watched the FD last night on replay, which means that I was not reading any of the thread, and also had to endure the NBC broadcast (STFU during programs!), and got to see the tracker that showed specific element, max possible, and then score on the element, which was interesting. Seeing FB/C get almost the max on most of their elements in real time compared to the other top teams told me they were going to win long before the scores came up. C/B seemed to know as well - do the skaters see that tracker in the arena?

Honestly, I get it. I was also paying more attention to individual moves than usual and pair items that really relied on Cizeron were out of this world - a low-down curve lift in particular was just gorgeous. C/B were on fire and the program went better than the Team FD, but that cape still was in the way in places, which highlighted that it was a prop. That takes away a bit from the skating. L-B as OGM is pretty amusing, but she did her job, which was to be competent all season.

My favorite part of the competition was watching Turkkila/Verslius through Reed/Ambrulevicius. Every team doing so great! I actually loved ice dance for about 45 minutes! Lopareva/Brissaud :inavoid:

I still don't love the Vincent program, but that was amazing for Gilles/Poirier. I never thought I'd see Paul Poirier burst into tears - I loved that both of them knew they'd hit it out of the park. So glad they got a medal for that.

Gutted for Fear/Gibson. I know many wanted them off the podium, but that was heartbreaking. I enjoyed the program and hope someone bought Lilah a stiff drink last night. :fragile:
 
overedge said:
It's also her job to ask questions that produce useful or interesting answers. Asking someone who just experienced a major disappointment why they are crying is grief farming, not journalism.
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I mostly have never been able to stand any of the interviewers. Remember, when Oksana was approaching was it Lesley Víssner and knew she was going to ask dumb questions so she did a U-turn right in front of her face lol.

It’s like all I can think about is like with DSD, asking her about being 42 like there’s other things to ask people about them the same question over and over as well.
 
I hoped for CB. But, now that it`s over I`m interested in the French. No one denied the beauty of their skating after being together so short a time. It would be nice to see them for a couple years. What might they produce?
 
A petition has been started on Change.org to investigate the French judge involved in the free dance. Per Newsweek:

"Yet despite their errors, a French judge awarded them a score nearly eight points higher than the Americans. In fact, five out of the nine judges favored Chock and Bates, but they missed out on gold by 1.43 points.

The French judge's scorecard stands out as a clear outlier, ultimately giving Beaudry and Cizeron just enough to edge out the other judges' scores."

Of course, it will go nowhere, but still.

"https://www.newsweek.com/sports/oly...aem_QTMl61y7-SgeKwJIRx84bA#Echobox=1770887374
 
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