French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron and his partner, Laurence Fournier Beaudry, took home the gold in their free dance on Wednesday, February 11, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, but Cizeron’s former partner isn’t interested in cheering him on.
“Logging off xxx,” Gabriella Papadakis wrote via Instagram on Wednesday alongside a photo of a pack of cigarettes and a glass of wine.
Papadakis, 30, is now retired, but opened up in her new memoir about her experience working with Cizeron, 31. In it, she accuses the gold medalist of being “controlling, demanding, critical” during their time as partners. She eventually refused to skate with him without a coach present, feeling she was “under his grip.”
Cizeron responded to the allegations in a statement to French media in January, accusing Papadakis of engaging in a smear campaign against him.
“In the face of this smear campaign, I want to express my incomprehension and disagreement with the labels attributed to me,” he said. “The book contains false information, including statements I never made, which I consider serious. For more than 20 years, I have shown deep respect for Gabriella Papadakis, despite the gradual erosion of our bond, our relationship was built on equal collaboration and marked by success and mutual support.”
Papadakis hasn’t backed down. An Olympic gold medalist herself, she previously served as a commentator for NBC but was ultimately let go ahead of the 2026 games. NBC told The New York Times in January that her book created a “clear conflict of interest” with Cizeron set to compete.
Papadakis also took aim at the culture around ice dancing in her memoir, explaining that it lends itself to an environment where men have all the power.
“The environment I was working in had become deeply unhealthy,” she wrote. “I was exhausted, physically and psychologically, and I had to leave to protect myself. I had no choice.”
She has been following the Olympics from home. Papadakis posted a video via Instagram on Sunday, February 8, where she encouraged fans to remember “whose voices are excluded from the arena and to engage critically with a spectacle that is built upon erasure and abuse.”
“I’m sharing my experiences because I believe in a sport where young athletes don’t have to endure what I did in order to achieve their dreams,” she wrote in the caption. “It is however incredibly difficult to make sport safer when survivors’ voices are still being silenced. I had to end my competitive career because I could no longer tolerate abuse. And now, as a result of speaking up about it I’ve lost my job.”
Papadakis continued, “I don’t single myself out as a victim. I use my experience to highlight a reality: as long as survivors are punished for speaking out, the sport cannot truly change or become safer. As the Winter Olympics unfold, I encourage you to engage critically with the spectacle. Spectators have power, and the way we choose to watch, support, question, or look away helps shape the culture of the sport.”
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