There was, however, some furor over the way the French team’s partnership came into being.
Fournier Beaudry’s previous skating partnership representing Canada with Nikolaj Sorensen, also her boyfriend, ended after Sorensen was banned six years by Skate Canada in 2024 for an alleged sexual assault of a U.S. skater in 2012. Sorensen has denied the allegations. The ban has since been overturned, but that action has been appealed.
Both have been criticized for publicly expressing support for Sorensen.
“From the beginning, we (he and Beaudry Fournier) tried to create a bubble where we really supported each other through everything,” said Cizeron, whose partnership with Papadakis ended in December 2024.
Bates danced around the question of whether this was their last Olympics, hesitating a long time before answering, “I’m not sure. We certainly put all our effort and emphasis into peaking at this event… It’s really hard to say what the career plans will be.”
If Chock, 33, and Bates, who turns 37 the day after the Olympics, are indeed leaving the sport, they are doing it with grace and class.
Soon after the final scores were announced, the U.S. team went over to give their French counterparts lengthy embraces.
This is the sixth straight Olympics in which U.S. ice dancers have won medals—one gold, three silver, two bronze—after having gone 30 years without one.
And the surprising fifth-place performance of the second U.S. team, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, bodes well for a future without Chock and Bates.
“They have given us big shoes to fill,” Zingas said. “They had an amazing career and so much success, especially over the last four years, and I want to be like them. I want to have that same success. If we can take the torch and keep holding it high, that would be amazing.”
Zingas and Kolesnik startled themselves by finishing so high in their Olympic debut, with a fiery free dance to Prokofiev’s “Romeo & Juliet.”
“I mean, this is crazy,” said Zingas, who switched from singles to dance after the 2022 season. “If you told me one year ago today, I’d be top five at the Olympics, I would have said, `No, it’s a lie.’ We’ve never even been to a World Championships.’’’
They will go to their first in March. It seems unlikely that Chock and Bates will seek a fourth straight world title.
“There’s so many emotions that come through after a week like this, but I think when things settle, we’ll be super proud and look back on our time here and be happy with everything that was up to us. We really, really did our best.”
Philip Hersh, who has covered figure skating at 13 straight Olympics, is a special contributor to NBCOlympics.com.