{"id":487311,"date":"2026-01-14T19:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T20:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=487311"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:22:22","slug":"smear-campaign-feud-escalates-between-gold-medal-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=487311","title":{"rendered":"'Smear campaign': Feud escalates between gold medal winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic ice dance champion Guillaume Cizeron of France has accused former partner Gabriella Papadakis of spreading falsehoods about him ahead of the Milano Cortina Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cizeron, who is competing at the European Championships this week with new partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry, said he is the target of a smear campaign linked to Papadakis' memoir, So As Not To Disappear<\/em>, which is set for release on Friday.<\/p>\n

Papadakis and Cizeron, who teamed up as children, were among the most decorated ice dance teams in history, winning five world championship titles and gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.<\/p>\n

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They said they were taking a break in June 2022, and announced their retirement two years later.<\/p>\n

In excerpts published by French media, Papadakis described an "unbalanced" relationship, calling Cizeron "controlling" and "demanding," and said she often felt "under his grip."<\/p>\n

"In the face of this smear campaign, I want to express my incomprehension and disagreement with the labels attributed to me," Cizeron said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"Gabriella<\/p>\n

"The book contains false information, including statements I never made, which I consider serious."<\/p>\n

He added that his lawyers have been instructed to demand an immediate halt to what he called defamatory claims.<\/p>\n

"For more than 20 years, I have shown deep respect for Gabriella Papadakis," Cizeron said.<\/p>\n

"Despite the gradual erosion of our bond, our relationship was built on equal collaboration and marked by success and mutual support."<\/p>\n

Reuters has contacted Papadakis for comment.<\/p>\n

Cizeron teamed up with Fournier Beaudry, who previously competed for Canada with Nikolaj Sorensen, last March. Fournier Beaudry received her French citizenship in November, paving the way to Olympic eligibility.<\/p>\n

\"Champion<\/p>\n

They won their two grand prix competitions this season, and finished second behind Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates at the grand prix final last month.<\/p>\n

They are expected to challenge Chock and Bates for gold at the Milano Cortina Olympics, which open on February 7.<\/p>\n

The rhythm dance at the European Championships is Saturday, followed by the free dance on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Since her retirement, Papadakis has worked as a broadcaster at figure skating events. She is also a big proponent of permitting same-sex teams to compete in ice dance.<\/p>\n

She and American Madison Hubbell have skated together in exhibitions in a bid to help pave the way for same-sex pairs to compete officially.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympic ice dance champion Guillaume Cizeron of France has accused former partner Gabriella Papadakis of spreading falsehoods about him ahead of the Milano Cortina Olympics. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":487313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=487311"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487316,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487311\/revisions\/487316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/487313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=487311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=487311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=487311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}