Olympic ice dancer Gabriela Papadakis pulled from NBC coverage due to ‘conflict of interest’

After the Olympic skater Gabriela Papadakis’s controversial memoir was released earlier this week, NBC is making changes to their broadcast team.

The French ice dancer released her book, In order not to loseon Thursday, January 17th. Soon after, NBC pulled Papadakis from its Winter Olympics coverage because of what the network called a “conflict of interest.”

“We respect Gabriela’s right to tell the story of her life and career. At the same time, her new book creates a clear conflict of interest,” NBC said. Sporty In a statement. “Our responsibility is to provide coverage that our listeners can trust to be free of bias – whether real or perceived – and we regret that in the circumstances that is no longer possible.”

In the book, Papadakis, 30, describes her former friend, Guillaume CizeronAs “controlling, demanding” and “important” during his time as a partner.

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He added that eventually she refused to skate with him without a coach and often felt that she was “in his grip.”

Papadakis said Agence France-Presse Earlier this week, NBC called him “a few days ago because after an on-and-off from my old partner, they changed their mind, which made me very sad.”

She worked for NBC as recently as last week, providing ice dance analysis at the US Figure Skating Championships.

Cizeron responded to Papadakis’ allegations in a statement to French media on Thursday, calling the memoir a “smear campaign.”

“In the face of this smear campaign, I would like to express my understanding and disagreement with the labels attributed to me,” he said. “The book contains false information, including statements I never made, which I do not take seriously. For more than 20 years, I have shown deep respect for Gabriela Papadakis. Despite the gradual erosion of our bond, our relationship was built on mutual cooperation and was marked by success and mutual support.”

Cesaron, 31, added that he had instructed his lawyers to “put all parties on notice to immediately stop broadcasting defamatory statements about me.”

Papadakis and Cizeron were childhood skating partners until they split in 2024. They won an Olympic gold medal in 2022 and silver in 2018 while skating for Team France. They have also won five World Championship gold medals between 2015 and 2022.

Cizeron is preparing to skate with his new friend at the 2026 Winter Games. Lawrence Fournier BeaudryAmidst this new controversy.

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Ice Dancing is set to begin on Friday, February 6, as the opening ceremony in Milan, Italy.

Papadakis has retired from the competition.

Her memoir also delves into her early life, where she claims she faced incidents of sexual abuse. She also takes aim at the culture surrounding ice dance, explaining that because it is designed for men to lead and women to follow, men hold the power in the sport.

She writes, “I suffer not because I was sexually abused as a child, but because I find myself day after day in a state where my body does not belong to me.” “I am there without really being there, half inhabiting this body which mechanically performs the functions it is ordered to do.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).