Olympics-Figure skating-Tearful Chock and Bates say they felt like they skated a winning performance

By Rory Carroll

MILAN, Feb 11 (Reuters) – American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates said they believed they had delivered an Olympic gold-medal performance on Wednesday despite having to settle for silver behind France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.

Chock and Bates entered the decisive free dance in a virtual tie for the lead and drew loud applause at the Milano Ice Skating Arena with a matador-and-bull themed routine, then wiped away tears as the final scores put them second.

“Life, sometimes you can feel like you do everything right and it doesn’t go your way,” Bates told reporters.

“And that’s life, and that’s sport, and it’s a subjective sport, it’s a judged sport. But I think one fact that is indisputable is that we delivered our best.”

Bates said they felt they were close enough to win.

“We felt like we skated a winning performance and that’s what we came here to do,” he said.

The pair had vowed to win Olympic ice dance gold after missing the podium at the Beijing Games four years ago, but it was not to be.

“We’re really proud of how we’ve handled ourselves and what we’ve accomplished here,” Chock said, thanking their coaches and families.

She said the duo hoped their work would inspire younger skaters “to just be the best they can be and be creative and love what they do.”

Chock and Bates finished with 224.39 points. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron won gold with 225.82, while Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took bronze with 217.74.

The pair add their silver medal to two team gold medals including the one they played a key role in capturing for the U.S. at the Milano Cortina Games.

It was unclear whether Chock and Bates, who have been partners for 15 years and are married, would retire or return for another Olympic cycle. Asked if the result made him want to continue their pursuit of gold, Bates declined to speculate.

“Not at the moment,” he said, when asked if the result made him eager to return to competition.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Milan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)