Laurence Fournier Beaudry and partner Guillaume Cizeron are gold medal favorites in ice dance. They also are the most controversial pairing in the event. | Sarah Stier/Getty Images

When Olympic ice dance pair Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillame Cizeron take to the ice on Wednesday, they’ll do so as the favorites for gold.

The French duo currently leads the pack with a score of 90.18, a slim margin over the Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and roughly 4 points ahead of Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. And Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron’s free dance, the concluding, longer skate of the multi-day competition, is considered one of the sport’s best this season.

A victory would be a triumph for the relatively new pair, as ice dancing is often characterized as a sport where years-long partnerships tend to rule the podium. But all of Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron’s success also comes with a disclaimer, one that involves allegations of rape and accusations of emotional abuse and the silencing of a victim — a dark reflection of some of the worst things about this gorgeous sport.

Why it’s difficult to root for France’s ice dance team

It’s hard to talk about Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillame Cizeron’s accomplishments on the ice without addressing the serious allegations — rape and emotional abuse — they’re currently embroiled in.

Prior to skating with Cizeron, Fournier Beaudry skated under the Canadian flag with a man named Nikolaj Sørensen. Fournier Beaudry and Sørensen also happen to be dating. The pair competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and placed ninth.

In July 2023, a former American figure skater filed a report with Canada’s now-defunct Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, alleging that, after a party in April of 2012, Sørensen held her down against her will and raped her.

“I pushed my arms against his hips to try to get his penis out of me and I was struggling to breathe. At this point, I feared for my life and let my body go limp as I lay there and he raped me,” the alleged victim said in the report she filed, which was obtained by USA Today. The outlet also wrote that........

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