MILAN, Feb 11 - 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.