Gabriella Papadakis’ shocking book has not escaped anyone, including her former trainer. In her book published this Thursday, the multi-medal winning French skater denounced the toxic influence of her former partner, Guillaume Cizeron. What seemed on the ice to be a duo in perfect harmony turned into a settling of scores through the media. While the book had not yet been released, the skater in turn responded by denying the “false information” and serious remarks attributed to him by Gabriella Papadakis.
Just a few days after the fire started, the duo’s former coach, Romain Haguenauer, reacted on Eurosport to the open conflict between his two former protégés whom he trained together for fifteen years (he is still the coach of Cizeron, now in a duo with Laurence Fournier-Beaudry). “I didn’t read it completely, I read a few extracts. I was extremely surprised to read her side of the story, how she experienced her years with Guillaume. All I can say is that I don’t fully recognize how the relationship with Guillaume was going at the time. »
“There was no such behavior on the part of Guillaume”
The coach expressed his astonishment and confided that he had never witnessed the facts alleged against Guillaume Cizeron by Gabriella Papadakis during their years of collaboration. “I have never witnessed what is described in this book. So it’s still a big surprise. It’s true that we questioned a lot with my colleagues to find out if anyone had already had this perception, if there had been at any given time a word of appeal for this subject and everyone was unanimous in saying that no. So what happened, I’m not going to go into it again. I can just testify that there has never been such behavior on the part of Guillaume as described in the extracts from the book that I have read. »
Still questioned by Eurosport, on the sidelines of the European Championships, Romain Haguenauer believes that the skater, removed from NBC due to these tensions, exaggerates her experience with her ex-dance partner and he regrets that the dirty linen was washed in public.
“Lots of confusion between personal issues and relationship issues”
“I personally find that Gabriella’s report on her experience, in my opinion, seems exaggerated compared to the reality of what she experienced, from the outside. But I accept and respect his point of view. Of course we have to remain vigilant, but there are a lot of things that I don’t recognize all the same. In what I have read, there is a lot of confusion between personal issues and relationship issues. It’s normal that there’s a bit of overlap, but I find that there’s a lot of confusion,” he regretted.
Before continuing: “This makes us all sad. Especially when we know the relationship they had with the outside world. They were considered an example of benevolence, of camaraderie between them. Many would not contradict me on this point. It taints Guillaume, Gabriella too. Denouncing certain things is completely okay, and fortunately. But you don’t have to get dirty while doing it and that’s what I find unfortunate. It could have been done in a more positive way, with less exaggeration than what I saw in the extracts I read.”
The duo formed by Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron announced their retirement from sport in December 2024 after a career crowned with two Olympic medals, including a gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, five world titles and five European titles.
