When Alysa Liu broke her silence after the ice dance judging backlash at the 2026 Olympics, she was not just supporting her teammates. She was adding her voice to a pattern that has repeated for decades: figure skating produces outcomes that athletes and fans reject, and the system that produces them remains largely unchanged.
The Controversy Is Not About One Bad Call
As newsweek.com reported, Alysa Liu called for major change after the Olympics and figure skating controversy. At the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won ice dance gold over American favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates by just 1.43 points. Five of the nine judges scored Chock and Bates higher, yet the French pair prevailed. The controversy centred on French judge Jezabel Dabouis, who scored the French team 137.45 while giving the Americans only 129.74—the lowest score of all nine judges and 7.71 points higher for her countrymates, as ESPN and Slate reported.
The margin was razor-thin but the impact was not. Viewers and analysts questioned how a single judge could swing the outcome when the majority of the panel had the Americans ahead. The debate has reignited long-standing calls for transparency and reform in how figure skating is judged at the Olympic level.
Liu expressed support for Chock and Bates on Instagram, writing that they are “the most inspiring people I know” and “on a whole nother level of athlete,” according to newsweek.com. Her public statement was a rare athlete intervention in a judging dispute—and it exposed the broader problem: the controversy is not about one bad call. It is about a sport where subjective scoring has repeatedly produced outcomes athletes and fans reject.
A Sport Where Subjective Scoring Produces Rejected Outcomes
The International Judging System, adopted in 2004 after the Salt Lake City vote-swapping scandal, was meant to reduce bias. But as Sportico’s analysis revealed, judges at the 2026 Olympics systematically scored skaters from their own countries higher—an average of 1.93 extra points from judges of the same nationality. Of 36 judges in short programs, 30 scored their compatriots more favorably. The BBC reported that the ISU is exploring ways to fight judging controversies, but the 2026 controversy suggests the problem persists.
Concrete changes have been slow to materialize despite repeated controversies. The 2026 Games showed that the same structural incentives—judges from each federation, opaque scoring, and limited accountability—remain in place.
Experts argue that modern ice dance has shifted toward “fun choreography” rather than rigorous technical execution, making judging more subjective. As the Detroit Free Press noted, figure skating “produces no clear winner, even among the experts”—and the system invites “grievance, accusation and even conspiracy theories.” Fans and commentators were quick to note the scoring gap. Social media and sports coverage amplified the outcry, with many arguing that the result did not match what viewers had seen on the ice.
What This Actually Means
Liu’s reform call—and the broader athlete and fan outcry—exposes a structural truth: figure skating’s judging system is broken. The 2002 scandal led to reform, but the 2026 controversy shows that the same patterns of bias and subjectivity remain. When the highest and lowest scores are discarded, a single judge can still decide the outcome by giving one team the highest score and the other the lowest. The system is not fit for purpose. Liu’s voice—as an Olympic champion and a skater who has seen the sport from inside and out—adds weight to the demand for change.
Athletes like Liu speaking out publicly is rare because the sport has historically discouraged criticism of judges. Her decision to back Chock and Bates on a public platform puts pressure on federations and the ISU to respond. Reform would require the ISU and national federations to accept independent oversight or different selection of judges, steps they have so far resisted. Whether that leads to real change remains to be seen, but the 2026 controversy has made the demand for it impossible to ignore.
Who is Alysa Liu? What is the ISU?
Who is Alysa Liu? Alysa Liu is an American figure skater, the 2026 Olympic champion in both women’s singles and the team event, and the 2025 World champion. She became the youngest U.S. national champion at age 13 and retired at 16 before making a comeback. She returned to competition and won the 2025 World Championship before claiming Olympic gold in 2026 in both the women’s event and the team competition.
What is the ISU? The International Skating Union is the governing body for figure skating and speed skating. It adopted the International Judging System in 2004 to replace the old 6.0 system. The old 6.0 system was replaced after the 2002 scandal, but the new system still relies on judges appointed by national federations, which critics say perpetuates bias.