Favoritism has no place in sports

Known figure skating referee and judge for the 2026 Winter Olympics and World Championships, Jezabel Dabouis, has faced controversy over favoritism in the past and now in 2026.

Figure skating fans have called out her favoritism toward French ice dancers Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron; Dabouis scored them 137.45 points, significantly higher than the other eight judges gave the French team when comparing the scores.  

Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates scored 129.57 points from Fournier, which was the lowest score given by any of the judges on the panel.

The 7.88-point difference sparked a large controversy among fans. Many online petitions were launched shortly after the event. It gained tens of thousands of signatures to investigate Dabouis’ scoring. 

The International Skating Union released a statement defending the results, as they said that they had full confidence in the judges and their scoring. 

As a figure skater myself who has been skating for 10 years, it was hugely disappointing when I saw people call out the large favoritism. 

I watch the Olympics every year to see the artistry, jumps, spins and fair scores by the judges, but when someone uses power as a judge to make a team from the judge’s country win when not correctly given, it is largely disappointing because, if not for the favoritism, the American team might have won.

It is on the judges to use their knowledge correctly and to score fairly, which Dabouis has failed to do. 

Before the 2026 ice dancing Olympics, the American team had won the 2020, 2023 and 2024 Olympics, showing how dominant they were. 

When watching the French ice dancing team, they bobbled during the twizzling entrance, and they struggled to synchronize their twizzles in general throughout the routine. 

Compared to the American team’s near-perfect ice dance routine, the only thing they were downgraded on was the technical level, from level 4 to level 3. This removed 1.0 point; it wouldn’t have cost them 7.88 points.  They still could have won even if they had a level downgrade, and I feel they should have.