"Huge relief": Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron on winning gold at Beijing 2022

“We’ve never been that stressed in our lives," Guillaume Cizeron tells Olympics.com after he and Gabriella Papadakis won their first Olympic gold medal. "We also experienced one of the best moments of our career.

"It’s a huge relief to finish on a program where we committed no mistakes. Every second was almost perfect. I think we also felt the energy from our coaches. We were not alone on the ice. There was a whole team behind us, they lifted us. We were full of gratitude today on the ice.”

The French pair had gone into the ice dance as favourites to win gold, but being expected to come first at the Games and actually doing so are two very different things.

Papadakis and Cizeron had also been favourites at PyeongChang 2018, where they entered the competition as double world champions and quadruple European champions.

Having been forced to settle for silver then, the two friends were always going to do everything in their power to ensure they walked away from Beijing 2022 with gold.

“The sacrifices were huge, and they always were - but that big, never," says Papadakis. "On the other hand, it made sense for us as the goal was so clear. The rest was self-induced.”

“Those last four years passed so fast," Cizeron adds. "So many things happened and we are at another level of our career. The experience was totally different. We managed to bring more maturity and magic than four years ago.”

All of the above meant there was plenty of pressure on the pair, but they dealt with it admirably to record a final score of 226.98 - 6.47 ahead of silver medallists Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov.

Though, Papadakis won't have been sure of the margin at first, as she admits: “I didn’t see the scores at all. I couldn’t see the screen actually. I didn’t even see the little number [their ranking]. I just heard everyone screaming and I saw we had won but it was a guess. I saw nothing.”

Now they're sure of everything, the pair can revel in their delight. "We’re feeling really great," Cizeron says. "We were so disappointed four years ago not to have skated our best and that was our goal today."

After their silver in PyeongChang, the focus was on going to get gold in Bejing, and they're going to make the most of it now that they've done so.

"Oh my God, I think we’re just trying to enjoy the moment, to let it sink," Cizeron says. "We’ve been dreaming of that moment for so many years now and our families. To be on the other side of that dream, I think it’s just taking a few seconds to live it."

Thoughts will likely turn to the next achievement eventually, but Cizeron and Papadakis have earned the chance to enjoy winning their long-awaited Olympic gold medals, even if Cizeron says they're "not really believing it yet."