Love, scandals & confessions: winter drama explodes on Olympics ice

The Olympics ice in Milan was supposed to shimmer with elegance. Instead, it crackled with controversy.

On Wednesday night, the reigning American champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, delivered a flawless, dramatic routine to “Paint It Black.” Three-time world champions. Fourth Olympics. A love story on ice. It looked like gold.

But when the scores flashed, gold went elsewhere, by just 1.43 points, to the brand-new French pairing of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.

And that’s when the real drama began.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skated clean. No visible errors. Emotion. Precision. Power. They left the ice believing they had done everything humanly possible. “We couldn’t have skated any better,” Chock said afterward. In her words, the silver felt “bittersweet.”

But for many fans watching, it wasn’t just a judging debate. It was something much bigger.

THE FRENCH PAIR: A PARTNERSHIP BORN IN TURMOIL

The gold medalists, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, have been skating together for less than a year.

That alone was shocking. Ice dance partnerships usually take years to gel. But this partnership wasn’t formed under ordinary circumstances.

It emerged from the wreckage of two separate abuse scandals involving their former partners.

Scandal #1: The Boyfriend Ban

Fournier Beaudry’s longtime partner, on and off the ice, was Nikolaj Sørensen. In 2024, Canada’s skating governing body banned Sørensen for at least six years for what it called “sexual maltreatment,” tied to allegations that he sexually assaulted an American coach in 2012.

He denied the accusations. Then in 2025, the suspension was overturned, not because he was cleared, but due to a technical jurisdiction issue. Fournier Beaudry stood by him throughout.

In the Netflix docuseries Glitter & Gold, she described herself as “collateral damage,” saying the suspension ended not just his career, but also hers.

The woman who accused Sørensen has since said that Fournier Beaudry’s public defense creates “a dangerous environment” that discourages abuse reporting in skating.

Scandal #2: The Ice Queen Memoir

Then there’s Cizeron. For over a decade, he skated with Gabriella Papadakis, Olympic gold medalists in Beijing 2022. Childhood partners. Icons of French skating. Last month, Papadakis published a memoir, ‘So as Not to Disappear’.

In it, she describes Cizeron as “Controlling”, “Demanding”, “Critical” and possessing “blood-chilling coldness”. She wrote she refused to practice alone with him without a coach present and said she felt “terrified” at times.

Cizeron has fiercely denied the allegations, calling them a smear campaign and reportedly issuing legal warnings.

The fallout was swift. Papadakis was dropped from a broadcasting role with NBC, which said it couldn’t guarantee her commentary would be perceived as unbiased.

But the Olympic village atmosphere? Tense. Former US Olympian Adam Rippon described the new French pairing as having “sinister energy.”

Fournier Beaudry, born in Montreal, switched national allegiance and became a French citizen just three months ago. Together, she and Cizeron quickly captured a European title, and now Olympic gold.

They insist they want to focus only on skating. But the allegations hover like a storm cloud over every lift and twizzle.

MEANWHILE… A MEDAL CONFESSION HEARD AROUND THE WORLD

As if the ice dance drama weren’t enough, another jaw-dropping moment unfolded at the biathlon range. Norwegian star Sturla Holm Lægreid won bronze in the men’s 20km biathlon.

Then he did something no one expected. In a live interview, he confessed, unprompted, that he cheated on his girlfriend three months ago.

“I had a gold medal in life,” he said, “and I lost it.”

He admitted he told her a week before the Olympics. She broke up with him. He said he hoped publicly confessing might win her back.

Så ikke helt denne komme. Tidenes mest absurde medaljeintervju. 🫣 pic.twitter.com/fFwJ1B0vCO

— Daniel Vassbund (@Smoothedan) February 10, 2026

“I’m a member of Mensa,” he added, “but I still do stupid stuff.”

The internet exploded.

One journalist called it “the strangest medal interview I’ve seen.” Another dubbed it “the new most bizarre Olympic moment.”

From gold medals to public relationship pleas, Milan has delivered a Games high on athletic brilliance and emotional chaos. This isn’t just about edges and artistry.

It’s about reputation. Loyalty. Allegations. Redemption. And whether Olympic glory can ever truly be separated from the shadows off the ice.

The medals have been awarded. But the storm? It’s still skating!