2026 Olys Rhythm Dance PBP - Livin' La GOE Loca

[once_upon]

To whomever noted that 7 of the judges had skaters who were coached by IAM - honestly how many of them teams competing arent coached by one of the 50 or IAM coaches?

I don't know all the teams, but would like to know, if someone can, to name of the 20 dance teams competing who are not in the IAM camp

 

[PRlady]

Other than correctly marking Lop Bri in 5th that is one weird list.

Exhausted from arena and schlepping out earlier to women’s hockey game (it’s more than a kilometer from that Metro stop to the Rho arena) but will only concur with the wise folks who said Z/K and Lop/Bri were undermarked, especially the latter who were better IMO than at least 3 teams above them. On the burning question of the hour, C/B have skated that RD better and I wasn’t a huge fan of it all year long, but the French had a lot of static gimmickry in that RD, so a wash.

Loved Mrazeks AC/DC, damn the twizzles mistake, and god help me I really liked the Georgians, that was real ‘90s.

 

[once_upon]

I get the feeling that the FB/C enterprise is one (season) and done.

Very much so. I get it was more a favor for F-B (and maybe Nik) to achieve a dream with a plus for Ciz.

But who knows, again just my opinion

 

[fsfann]

Wow, if you're gonna pull this shit you might as well go all in and put Fear/Gib first.

Exactly... and maybe put C/B and FB/C in the 10-15th range???

 

[Karen-W]

To whomever noted that 7 of the judges had skaters who were coached by IAM - honestly how many of them teams competing arent coached by one of the 50 or IAM coaches?

I don't know all the teams, but would like to know, if someone can, to name of the 20 dance teams competing who are not in the IAM camp

Teams that aren't in the IAM camp to some degree (coaching/choreography) who are competing where? on the GP? earned the CTES mins to compete at Euros or 4CCs?

GP teams that aren't IAM (18) - Gilles/Poirier, Green/Parsons, Zingas/Kolesnik, Pate/Bye, Bratti/Somerville, Wolfkostin/Tsarevski, Neset/Markelov, Shibutani/Shibutani, Guignard/Fabbri, Mrazkova/Mrazek, Taschlerova/Taschler, Bekker/Hernandez, Demougeot/le Mercier, Lagouge/Caffa, Fradji/Forneaux, Janse van Rensburg/Steffan, Orihara/Pirinen, Turkkila/Versluis (had to withdraw but had initial assignments)

Euros/4CCs teams that aren't IAM & weren't on the GP (18) - Reitan/Majorov, Val/Kazimov, Ignateva/Szemko, Manni/Roethlisberger, Matthaei/Liebers, Ichilov/Nosovitskiy, Soucisse/Firus, Larson/Kapran, Zehnder/Sieber, Kudryavtseva/Karankevich, Verhaegh/van Geffen, Straub/Straub, Dovhal/Kulesza, Ivanitskiy/Sperry, Shilling/Baeten, Nauryzova/Datiev, Pallu-Neves/Panesar, Stanley/Urano

The real challenge is breaking through the juggernaut that is IAM at the top of any of those fields, though it can & has been done by teams like Gilles/Poirier, Zingas/Kolesnik, Guignard/Fabbri and, to a lesser extent, Green/Parsons.

 

[once_upon]

I meant the Olympics

 

[Aussie Willy]

Very much so. I get it was more a favor for F-B (and maybe Nik) to achieve a dream with a plus for Ciz.

But who knows, again just my opinion

I just wonder if C&B don't win the gold, are they going to hang around for another 4 years?

 

[Debbie S]

Very much so. I get it was more a favor for F-B (and maybe Nik) to achieve a dream with a plus for Ciz.

But who knows, again just my opinion

Per her book, Gabby and Guillaume were planning a comeback for these Olys, presumably skating in the pre-Oly season. Their split effectively put an end to that, but when F-B became available, that opened a door. The question there was whether she could get citizenship and that was apparently easy to do. I feel like this partnership is more about Guillaume's ego and Laurence winning an Oly medal is a bonus. If IAM was that invested in Laurence medaling at an Olys, they would have politiked FB/S harder. Or at least given them better programs.

 

[once_upon]

I just wonder if C&B don't win the gold, are they going to hang around for another 4 years?

I personally don't think so.

They may want children; or just think after 25 or more years of skating at top level is enough on their bodies; or Madi wants to go onto design and Evan on to coaching (I'm sure IAM camp would accept both). While not individual golds they have 2 team golds

 

[Karen-W]

I meant the Olympics

Oh, there aren't 20 teams at the Olympics who aren't affiliated with IAM.

10 out of 23 teams are not IAM - Gilles/Poirier, Guignard/Fabbri, Zingas/Kolesnik, Taschlerova/Taschler, Turkkila/Versluis, Mrazkova/Mrazek, Val/Kazimov, Bekker/Hernandez, Reitan/Majorov, Janse van Rensburg/Steffan

 

[Aussie Willy]

I personally don't think so.

They may want children; or just think after 25 or more years of skating at top level is enough on their bodies; or Madi wants to go onto design and Evan on to coaching (I'm sure IAM camp would accept both). While not individual golds they have 2 team golds

They have dogs that each have their own prams. Isn't that enough?

After watching the series, you are right about their bodies.

 

[Spikefan]

I just wonder if C&B don't win the gold, are they going to hang around for another 4 years?

I could see her lasting but his back would never make it. And younger teams would start to surpass them.

 

[once_upon]

Oh, there aren't 20 teams at the Olympics who aren't affiliated with IAM.

10 out of 23 teams are not IAM - Gilles/Poirier, Guignard/Fabbri, Zingas/Kolesnik, Taschlerova/Taschler, Turkkila/Versluis, Mrazkova/Mrazek, Val/Kazimov, Bekker/Hernandez, Reitan/Majorov, Janse van Rensburg/Steffan

So in terms of 7 out 10 judges from countries who have IAM teams wouldn't be an uneven stretch.

I was just trying to figure out if 7/10 is a unfair judging panel.

 

[Karen-W]

So in terms of 7 out 10 judges from IAM teams wouldn't be an uneven stretch.

I was just trying to figure out if 7/10 is a unfair judging panel.

Well, there are 13 judges drawn for the Olympics - 9 get selected for the RD, the remaining 4 get selected for the FD plus 5 from the RD carry over.

The RD panel today had 3 who don't have any IAM teams (FIN, CZE & GER). The 4 who weren't selected for the panel are USA, ITA, GEO & ESP, which means there is at least 1 judge for the FD (ITA) who won't have a team with an IAM affiliation.

The RD panel -
Judge No.1 Ms. KUNNAS-HELMINEN Virpi FIN
Judge No.2 Mr. KOSINA Richard CZE
Judge No.3 Mr. RUSSELL Nicholas GBR (1 IAM team, 1 non-IAM team)
Judge No.4 Mr. BAUMANN Christian GER
Judge No.5 Ms. DABOUIS Jezabel FRA (2 IAM teams)
Judge No.6 Ms. KEEN Leslie CAN (2 IAM teams, 1 non-IAM team)
Judge No.7 Mr. HUANG Feng CHN
Judge No.8 Ms. MORITZ Patricia AUS
Judge No.9 Ms. RHEE Chihee KOR

USA (2 IAM teams, 1 non-IAM team)
ESP (1 IAM team, 1 non-IAM team)

The panels could be viewed as dominated by IAM, but some of these judges have split loyalties for their skaters with some in the IAM camp & others who aren't.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

British Judge should be hauled off and fired. Look at his placements:
1) Chock/Bates
2) Fear/Gibson
3) FB/cizeron
4) Reed/Ambro
5) Lopareva/Brissaud
6) Guignard/Fabbri
7) Gilles/Poirier (!!!)
8) Davis/Smolkin (!)
9) Turkilla/Versluis
10) Carreira/Ponomarenko
11) Zingas/Kolesnik (!)
12) Bekker/Hernandez (!)
13) Mrazkova/Mrazek (!)
14) Taschlerova/Taschler
15) Smart/Dieck
16) Lajoie/Lagha (!!!)
17) Lauriault/LeGac

Absolutely insane!!!! 16th for L/L?!

ZingKol in 11?…



Behind CarPon? Sure Jan.

This judge had them at the level of BekHern!!!

Judge ANL had them in second.

 

[once_upon]

These are 2 of the billion reasons I wouldn't be a judge

 

[terisa]

I don't think casual fans would be upset by C/B being 2nd if FB/C had skated in the same group, so their skate was fresher in our minds and easier to compare. Maybe they should find a way to calculate standings and incorporate each partner's whole body of work?

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Wow, if you're gonna pull this shit you might as well go all in and put Fear/Gib first.

And BekHern in third

This judge must’ve stopped in Amsterdam first for some funny funny.

 

[allezfred]

I'm a skating fan who has eyes. Like others on here who noted the same thing. Go watch Ep 3 of the Netflix series.

Was I wrong that you are an American Chock and Bates fan?

Not sure what use it would be for me to watch the Netflix series again. I guess it might be nice to see myself in it again.

 

[skipaway]

Obviously Diana is too young, but I'll bet Eteri had that costume in the back of her closet. She was a bit of a wild child when she was younger.

Re watching NBC feed…Madi Chock designed both Gleb and Diana’s costume!

 

[zigzig]

Hm - thought C/B would should taken the lead here. FB/C didn't have their usual power and attack and seemed tight in places.

While the margin is small the ranking is everything. Sad to say the French have this one in the bag.

 

[Karen-W]

British Judge should be hauled off and fired. Look at his placements:
1) Chock/Bates
2) Fear/Gibson
3) FB/cizeron
4) Reed/Ambro
5) Lopareva/Brissaud
6) Guignard/Fabbri
7) Gilles/Poirier (!!!)
8) Davis/Smolkin (!)
9) Turkilla/Versluis
10) Carreira/Ponomarenko
11) Zingas/Kolesnik (!)
12) Bekker/Hernandez (!)
13) Mrazkova/Mrazek (!)
14) Taschlerova/Taschler
15) Smart/Dieck
16) Lajoie/Lagha (!!!)
17) Lauriault/LeGac

Absolutely insane!!!! 16th for L/L?!

This post is so misleading without the points the judge awarded to these teams:

1) Chock/Bates 90.18 +0.46
2) Fear/Gibson 86.68 +1.21
3) Fournier-Beaudry/Cizeron 85.57 -4.61
4) Reed/Ambrulevicius 84.92 +2.21
5) Lopareva/Brissaud 83.00 +0.75
6) Guignard/Fabbri 82.50 -1.78
7) Gilles/Poirier 80.08 -6.50
8) Davis/Smolkin 79.79 +2.64
9) Turkkila/Versluis 78.69 +0.73
10) Carreira/Ponomarenko 78.13 -0.02
11) Zingas/Kolesnik 77.93 -5.60
12) Bekker/Hernandez 75.52 +3.06
13) Mrazkova/Mrazek 74.59 +2.50
14) Taschlerova/Taschler 74.27 -1.06
15) Smart/Dieck 73.20 -5.33
16) Lajoie/Lagha 73.12 -6.54
17) Lauriault/LeGac 71.65 -2.70
18) Reitan/Majorov 71.32 +4.01
19) Val/Kazimov 68.34 +3.36
20) Lim/Quan 65.91 +1.22
21) Wang/Liu 65.59 +0.83
22) Janse van Rensburg/Steffan 63.88 +.21
23) Harris/Chan 60.68 -7.07

I challenge anyone to figure out the pattern to his scoring. It is pretty wild, for sure. For 13 teams his marks deviated more than 2 points from the panel's actual scores - of those, 6 were above the panel's scores (2 IAM, 4 non-IAM teams) and 7 that were below the panel's scores (5 IAM, 2 non-IAM).

Some of these teams, especially further down in the ranks, people were complaining in real-time in this thread about how they were under-scored (Reitan/Majorov) or over-scored (Harris/Chan, Reed/Ambrulevicius).

I'd love to hear his explanation of his scores, if only to try and tease out the depth of his knowledge & understanding of the current bullet points for ice dancing IJS.

 

[Sylvia]

NBC Sports has shared 4 RD videos (geoblocked outside USA? may not stay up long):

Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrkizOdFWrg
Chock/Bates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-FW8rTNJ8
Guignard/Fabbri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etWh_xdtXxA
Zingas/Kolesnik: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KwC8lm5lUc

 

[once_upon]

NBC Sports has shared 4 RD videos (geoblocked outside USA? may not stay up long):

Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrkizOdFWrg
Chock/Bates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-FW8rTNJ8
Guignard/Fabbri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etWh_xdtXxA
Zingas/Kolesnik: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KwC8lm5lUc

They are also part of the evening coverage on NBC

 

[Icetalavista]

I love Lenny Kravitz so I enjoyed C/B's music. I don't really care what era it is. BTW dance is the hardest for me to accurately judge but at the time the French skated all I could focus on was the whirligig breasts & the cheeks hanging out. Plus I thought they were very good but overscored.

I have to wonder if the cheeks were intended to distract. But why? They’re both good skaters

 

[my little pony]

I hate that the casual fans are being introduced to G/F in those tube socks

 

[Sylvia]

I have to give a cheer for Holly and Jason making it to the FD. Very happy for them. Her mum Karen in the audience was probably more nervous than what she was.

The Olympic Games on Instagram: "The emotion as Holly Harris competes on Olympic ice. 🥹🤩🫣😍 Her family’s reaction makes us cry!"

9,269 likes, 93 comments - olympics on February 9, 2026: "The emotion as Holly Harris competes on Olympic ice. 🥹🤩🫣😍 Her family’s reaction makes us cry!".

www.instagram.com

 

[MacMadame]

That's a shame. It's hard to have to sit near someone like that and listen to all their negative comments. But, then again, if you punched him out, you'd be watching from the parking lot (if not behind bars). Sigh .....

Unless the ushers also thought he was annoying.

You were there, so I'll take your word for it. I was going off what I could hear on Peacock after C/B's scores went up.

I heard a roar from the crowd when FBCiz were introduced and I heard boos when C/B's scores came up. Both things can be true, though apparently some people can't believe that.

Re watching NBC feed…Madi Chock designed both Gleb and Diana’s costume!

That explains why they are so awesome.

While the margin is small the ranking is everything. Sad to say the French have this one in the bag.

Now watch, LF-B will trip over her skirt in the middle of a high-scoring element.

 

[canbelto]

Scary Babs is a whole mood.

 

[clairecloutier]

Just caught up & I feel like the judging was pretty on point, for the most part, although there a few things I’d quibble with, like Smart/Dieck’s and Lauriault/LeGac’s placements. Such a close event; a lot of great skating!

I am absolutely blown away that Emi/Vadym are in 6th and almost made the final group, considering that this is their first Olympics, they’ve never even competed at Worlds, and aren’t national champions. It’s just a stunning result. Their GP Final appearance could’ve been seen as a bit of a fluke, but this result proves it wasn’t. . They must be over the moon right now—what an amazing couple of months they’ve had!