When Alysa Liu took to Instagram to support Madison Chock and Evan Bates after they lost Olympic ice dance gold by 1.43 points to a French duo—despite five of nine judges preferring the Americans—she was not just defending her teammates. She was doing something figure skating officials have spent decades preventing: an athlete speaking publicly about a result that smelled wrong. The International Skating Union will never admit that scoring is politically rigged. Liu’s public stance is the first step toward the athlete rebellion the sport needs.
Officials Refuse to Acknowledge What the Data Shows
At the 2026 Milan Olympics, French judge Jézabel Dabouis scored Chock and Bates 129.74 in the free dance—the lowest score among nine judges and over five points below the panel average. She scored the French pair 137.45, nearly three points above average. As Slate reported, that single judge gave the French team a 7.71-point advantage over the Americans. Eight of nine judges scored Chock and Bates above 130 points; Dabouis did not. The Americans would have won gold if her scores were excluded. The ISU defended the result. The Guardian noted that the skating body stated score variations are normal and that mechanisms like discarding the highest and lowest scores help mitigate bias. But as ESPN documented, both performances contained visible errors with twizzles—and Chock and Bates executed theirs flawlessly. The French pair did not. The outcome was not a matter of subjective preference. It was a matter of one judge’s scores swinging the result.
Newsweek reported that Liu broke her silence after the controversy, posting on Instagram: “Madi & Evan are the most inspiring people I know…4 phenomenal performances on Olympic ice, back to back. They on a whole nother level of athlete.” That might sound like routine teammate support. In figure skating, it is not. The ISU has imposed gag rules that ban public criticism of judges’ decisions. As Chosun Ilbo reported, Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova criticized the ISU for these rules—though her own history of defending Russian skaters while attacking others reveals the sport’s political rot. When athletes and coaches cannot speak, officials control the narrative. Liu spoke anyway; her post drew widespread attention and renewed focus on the judging panel and its national makeup.
The 2002 Scandal Proved Reform From Within Does Not Work
The CBC documented the 2002 Salt Lake City scandal: Canadian pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were initially denied gold due to an alleged vote-trading scheme involving a Russian judge. The scandal was so severe that results were revised during the Olympics—both pairs were awarded gold. That led to the International Judging System, which replaced the 6.0 scale with a points-based model. The Sporting News explained that the system assigns base values to elements and uses program component scores for artistry. The highest and lowest scores are discarded. The reform was supposed to fix bias. It did not. Sportico’s analysis of the 2026 Games found that 30 of 36 judges in short programs scored skaters from their own countries 1.93 points higher on average. In long programs, 25 of 29 judges did the same, with a 3.34-point advantage for co-nationals. Fifteen of 15 ice dance teams with a judge from their country on the panel received higher scores from that judge than from others. The system is not broken. It is rigged by design—and officials will never admit it.
What This Actually Means
Figure skating cannot fix itself from within. The ISU has antitrust problems, gag rules, and a history of defending questionable results. Reuters reported that the body is testing AI to improve objectivity—but AI cannot fix political bias when judges are selected by national federations with vested interests. The only force that can change the sport is athletes refusing to stay silent. Liu’s Instagram post was small. It was also significant. She is the Olympic champion, the most visible American skater, and she used her platform to stand with teammates who were robbed. That is the first step. The next step is athletes demanding reform—and the step after that is the revolt the sport has needed since 2002.
Who is Alysa Liu? What is the International Skating Union?
Who is Alysa Liu? Alysa Liu is an American figure skater who won gold in women’s singles and the team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics. She retired at 16 in 2022 and returned in 2024, winning the 2025 World Championship. She is the first American woman to win Olympic gold in figure skating since 2002.
What is the International Skating Union? The ISU is the governing body for figure skating and speed skating, founded in 1892. It oversees judging at Olympic and world championship events. The organization has faced criticism for political bias in scoring and for rules that restrict public criticism of judges.