Gabriella Papadakis

Gabriella Marie-Hélène Papadakis (born 10 May 1995) is a French retired ice dancer. With former partner Guillaume Cizeron, she is a 2022 Olympic champion, 2018 Olympic silver medalist, a five-time World champion (2015–2016, 2018–2019, 2022), a five-time consecutive European champion (2015–2019), the 2017 and 2019 Grand Prix Final champion, and a seven-time French national champion (2015–2020, 2022). They have won ten gold medals on the Grand Prix series. Earlier in their career, they won silver at the 2012 Junior Grand Prix Final and at the 2013 World Junior Championships.

Papadakis and Cizeron have broken world records 34 times, which is itself a record across all figure skating disciplines since the introduction of the ISU Judging System in 2004. They are the former and historical world record holders in the short dance, free dance, and combined total. They are the first team to have broken the 90-point barrier in the rhythm dance, 120-point and 130-point barriers in the free dance, and the first team to score above the 200-point, 210-point, and 220-point barriers in the combined total score.

The pair are recognized for their lyrical and musical style. In her memoir, Papadakis said that she was a survivor of sexual assault, having been raped twice during her adolescence. The duo withdrew from their final competition of the season, the 2016 Team Challenge Cup in April 2016, because Papadakis had a mild case of mononucleosis. They officially announced their retirement as competitive ice dancing team on December 3, 2024. During a podcast interview with Championnes du Monde, Papadakis said that the main reason behind her and Cizeron's decision to split was due to her values no longer aligning with that of her partner's, her coaches, and the French Federation of Ice Sports. She further said that she felt the Ice Academy of Montreal (IAM) no longer felt like a healthy environment for her to continue training in.

Post-competitive career In 2023, Papadakis began choreographing competitive figure skating programs. She has most notably worked with French women's singles skaters Lorine Schild and Léa Serna. In January 2025, she began working as an ice dance analyst for NBC Sports.

In a 2022 French documentary about Papadakis and former ice dance partner Guillaume Cizeron, titled Le couple de feu ("The Fiery Couple"), Papadakis said that she had gotten pregnant only weeks before the 2019 World Championships. She had felt intensely guilty as an elite athlete. She said that when she told her coaching team at the Ice Academy of Montreal (IAM) about her situation, they were unsympathetic and told her to "deal with it and come back." She felt her only choice was to get an abortion. In her 2026 memoir, Papadakis revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage during her and Cizeron's exhibition performance at the 2019 World Championships. It was a delayed effect of the abortion pill she had taken earlier.

On 10 January 2026, Papadakis spoke with France Info, describing Cizeron as being a controlling, demanding, and critical ice dance partner. She said, "The idea of being alone with him terrifies me. His attitude throws me off balance. Sometimes he ignores me; sometimes he plays the best friend, as if nothing were wrong […] His coldness chills me to the bone." Papadakis also alleged that, one year before their final separation, Cizeron had threatened to stop skating with her. He was unhappy after she told him of her intention to file a complaint against a French figure skating coach who had raped her as a teenager during the years when the dance couple trained in Lyon.

In her 2026 memoir, Pour ne pas disparaître ("To Not Disappear"), Papadakis went into further detail regarding her and Cizeron's split. She said that she had refused to continue training at IAM due to the center's continued association with fellow ice dancer Nikolaj Sørensen after sexual assault allegations had been made against him in late 2023. Following Cizeron's cease and desist notice, NBC Sports pulled Papadakis from doing commentary at the 2026 Winter Olympics, stating that her book created a "conflict of interest" because Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry were competing in the ice dance event.

World record scores

Programs

(with Cizeron) Season Short dance Free dance Exhibition 2021–2022