After what they viewed as a disputed judging call, the American ice dance pair said they might consider filing an appeal after taking silver in the ice dancing final at the Milan Winter Games, where they finished behind a team from France. "I suppose we would consider it,'' Chock said in an interview with Access Hollywood.
"I think skating is such a subjective sport, but I do think that for fairness it is good when the judges are reviewed for their work. Not just after this competition but every competition to just make sure there's a fair and even playing field for all athletes." Even so, a turnaround looks unlikely.
Unfair Deal and Helpless
That's despite the backlash over the judging, particularly the scores from French judge Jezabel Dabouis, who gave the French winners a much bigger edge, while the rest of the panel scored the two teams far more evenly.
So far, the International Skating Union has chosen not to review or investigate the issue.
"It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations," the union said, per ESPN.
The ISU also said that it has "full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness."
Another complication is timing. Ahead of the Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport made it clear that disputes like this are ideally settled "within hours" of a competition ending.
Without the unusually one-sided scores from the French judge, Madison Chock and Evan Bates would have taken gold, finishing ahead of the French duo Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
No One to Support Them
Afterwards, Chock called for judges' performances to be reviewed, telling CBS News, "It would definitely be helpful if it's more understandable for the viewers, to just see more transparent judging and understand ... what's really going on."
Chock added: "Because there's a lot on the line for the skaters when they're out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field."
For now, the American duo is focusing on moving forward and making the most of what they achieved.
"We felt like we delivered our absolute best performance that we could have. It was our Olympic moment," Bates told USA Today. "It felt like a winning skate to us, and that's what we're going to hold on to."
