Team Rainbow Review and Weekend What To Watch, Feb 13 - Feb 16: Ice Dancing Drama
An update on which queer athletes have made an impact in the medal count, changes to Team Rainbow and which events to watch this weekend
This is another story in our continued coverage of the upcoming Olympics. You can read the introduction to this series here; the first part of the preview is here, and the second part is here. The first “What to Watch” is here. The first part of the preview and the intro are provided without charge, but the rest of the pieces, including this one, will be behind the Wide Left paywall, with proceeds going to Minnesota Direct Relief.
Team Rainbow had a decent week, with a couple of new pickups of the bronze variety.
Results This Week
At the top, let’s discuss Ice Dancing. Canadians Paul Poirier and Piper Gilles did an incredible job, especially in their Free Program, earning the bronze medal. Watch the dance if you have not, it’s worth it. They skated with passion and joy, and ended with tears in their eyes. It was the culmination of lengthy careers for them both, and vindication after years of hard work that they could stand atop the medal podium. We can always support a man who loves hot girl walks and his Monty Python-loving partner.
I now must revisit the elephant in the room I had noted when initially discussing the co-gold medalist for this discipline, Guillaume Cizeron.
This is what I wrote three weeks ago when discussing his eligibility for being on this team.
There’s an elephant in the room to address here. Guillaume Cizeron won gold in ice dancing in 2022, but he’s in a war of words with his ex-partner, Gabriella Papadakis, who has accused him of being “controlling, demanding, and critical.”
Cizeron is slated to skate with his new partner, Laurence Fournier Beaudry, in Milan. It will be interesting to see how the conversation surrounding Cizeron impacts his performance. If more serious allegations come to light, his inclusion on this team will be reviewed.
Since that piece came out, more reporting has come to light. I specifically recommend reading this piece by Diana Moskovitz at Defector, who reported on both Papadakis’ memoir and a rape case involving Fournier Beaudry’s ex-partner and current boyfriend, Nikolaj Sorenson. It should be noted that Sorenson was suspended for 6 years after the initial investigation before successfully appeaing by a technicality impertinent to the initial charge. Fournier Beaudry has defended Sorenson throughout the process. In interviews, Cizeron has attempted to shift focus away from discussion surrounding his partner’s ex.
This exercise is mainly meant to be fun, and having a competitor who appears complicit in criminality and rape apologia on our team casts an ickiness over this whole exercise. So, I will not be adding his gold medal toward the Team Rainbow medal count.
One additional medal is a late entrant to our team, Tineke den Delk from Belgium’s short track speedskating Mixed Relay. After the Americans washed out in the semis, the Belgians eked out a surprise bronze. Congratulations to Tineke, who brings Team Rainbow to five total medals (12th place) and 11 “medal points” (11th place) in the international count, staving off the ungilded Canadians, South Korea, and China.
Hockey-wise, Team Rainbow athletes are still representing well on likely medal contenders. American Alex Carpenter is tied for second in goals, and Hilary Knight’s assist to Caroline Harvey against Canada tied her with Jenny Potter for most career Olympics points. Canada, Finland, and Czechia fill the other top four slots. Canada’s captain, Marie Philip-Poulin, is hurt and missed their blowout loss to Team USA, but will hopefully return later in the tournament. One statistical quirk: members of Team Rainbow (Carpenter, Lina Ljungblom, Brianne Jenner, Philip-Poulin) make up four of the top five women in terms of winning faceoffs.
In speed skating, Brittany Bowe, Conor McDermott-Mostowy and Martina Sablikova competed hard in various races. While none of them medaled, all of them should be proud of their performances and will have additional medal opportunities later in the Olympics.
Breezy Johnson won her downhill segment in Women’s Combined, but teammate Mikaela Shiffrin stumbled in slalom, dashing her repeat medal dreams. She also did not finish in Super G, but got surprised by her boyfriend at the bottom of the hill, who proposed to her. We love Breezy and congratulate her on her engagement!
Finally, in figure skating, Kevin Aymoz may have something to say when it comes to the bronze medal in Men’s Singles. He came in seventh in short program skating to Lady Gaga, and his free skate is highly rated. Here’s hoping this wannabe Pokémon trainer can make his way to Victory Road in Milan.
Medal Count
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