The Spanish figure skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté faces a last-minute scramble to redesign his Olympic short program after a copyright dispute blocked him from using music from the Minions franchise just days before competition begins at the Milano Cortina Winter Games. The six-time Spanish national champion from Barcelona, who is set to make his Olympic debut in the men’s singles event, said he learned late last week that the routine he has performed throughout the 2025-26 season would not be cleared for Olympic use. Guarino Sabaté said he had submitted the music through the International Skating Union’s recommended rights-clearance process months ago and had competed with the program without issue during the season, including at last month’s European championships in Sheffield.
The Spanish figure skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté faces a last-minute scramble to redesign his Olympic short program after a copyright dispute blocked him from using music from the Minions franchise just days before competition begins at the Milano Cortina Winter Games.
The six-time Spanish national champion from Barcelona, who is set to make his Olympic debut in the men’s singles event, said he learned late last week that the routine he has performed throughout the 2025-26 season would not be cleared for Olympic use. Guarino Sabaté said he had submitted the music through the International Skating Union’s recommended rights-clearance process months ago and had competed with the program without issue during the season, including at last month’s European championships in Sheffield.
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The ruling means the 26-year-old must now adapt or replace choreography he has refined for months, a daunting task in a sport where musical timing and muscle memory are inseparable.
“Finding this out so close to the biggest competition of my life was incredibly disappointing,” Guarino Sabaté said in a social media post. “Nevertheless, I will face this challenge head-on and do everything I can to make the best of the situation.”
The routine, built around music from the popular animated film franchise, had become a signature for the Spanish skater. He regularly performed wearing a yellow shirt and blue overalls reminiscent of the film characters, leaning into a playful, crowd-friendly style he said was designed to show that men’s figure skating can balance technical difficulty with humor and personality.
Rights to the Minions property are controlled by Illumination and parent studio Universal Pictures. It was not immediately clear which specific licensing hurdle ultimately blocked Olympic clearance, but music licensing in figure skating has grown increasingly labyrinthine in recent years, particularly as the sport has shifted toward contemporary popular music.
At last year’s world championships in Boston, the ISU director-general, Colin Smith, described the situation to the Guardian as a structural problem in the music business rather than something skating can easily solve on its own.
“It’s a complex issue, frankly, because the music industry has no common clearance platform,” Smith said. “There are multiple buckets of rights, and within those buckets the clearance process isn’t done on a single platform. Tracking tools have improved, but the facilitated process just isn’t there.”
Smith, who previously oversaw Fifa World Cup tournament operations as chief tournaments and events officer and chief operating officer from 2015 to 2023, said he had held direct discussions with major rights-holders about building something more workable, arguing that the sport’s global profile should make cooperation attractive.
“I’ve had direct conversations with one of the big publishing and music companies, and they fully agree it’s a strange situation that there isn’t a facilitated process – and they’re determined to help us find one,” he said. “What we hear time and time again is that figure skating is so special, and they actually want the music heard with figure skating. So the fact there’s a rights-clearance process in the way needs to be addressed. It’s a topic we’re addressing, and we’re trying to find a rational solution.”
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The controversy also fits into a broader pattern across the sport, where even elite Olympic athletes have found their music choices subject to late-stage legal or financial complications.
The Canadian ice dancers Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac learned late last year that two Prince songs planned for their 1990s-themed rhythm dance could not be cleared for Olympic use, despite being approved for use during the rest of the season. The pair had secured their Olympic place with a podium finish at Canadian nationals but were forced to rework their program for the Games.
High-profile disputes have surfaced even before that. At the Beijing Olympics in 2022, the American pairs champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were hit with a copyright lawsuit tied to their use of a cover version of House of the Rising Sun. The case was later settled privately for an undisclosed sum understood by the Guardian to be around $1.4m (£1.02m), but the episode highlighted the legal and financial risks tied to music selection at the sport’s highest level. Knierim later described the dispute as casting a “bittersweet” shadow over the performance.
The case also exposed how little many athletes understood about music licensing requirements. For decades, skaters largely relied on federations and event organizers to manage music use, but the lawsuit underscored how individual athletes could still be drawn into copyright disputes. Rights complications have also affected how artistic sports are broadcast and archived, with some competitions unavailable on replay platforms because music licenses do not extend to long-term streaming.
Even outside Olympic seasons, clearance costs can derail programs. The Canadian pairs skaters Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps said they abandoned plans to use a cover of a Phil Collins track after being quoted a licensing fee in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Taken together, the cases reflect how music rights – once a secondary consideration in figure skating – have become a logistical and financial challenge athletes must navigate alongside training and competition.
Smith said skating is not alone in facing those pressures, and suggested a broader, cross-sport approach may be necessary, involving Olympic organizers and other music-driven judged disciplines.
“Absolutely, it’s not just figure skating,” he said when asked whether the ISU could coordinate with sports such as gymnastics, artistic swimming and others that face similar issues. “We are one of the largest in terms of the Winter Olympics, and we are working with the IOC as well, together with the music industry, to find a solution.”
Smith added that the ISU was pursuing what he called a “multi-pronged approach”, including work with an existing platform that handles rights issues across other sports.
“We’re really trying to find a rational, practical solution,” he said.
Guarino Sabaté said he followed required procedures, including submitting his music through the ClicknClear licensing system during the summer. The company has said generally that Olympic participants must secure all necessary authorizations before using music in competition, but it does not comment on individual cases.
The ISU confirmed it is monitoring Guarino Sabaté’s situation but declined to provide details about the specific dispute.
“The ISU is aware of this situation,” the governing body said on Monday in a statement to the Guardian. “As soon as we have more details on this specific case, we will share them as appropriate. Copyright clearances can represent a challenge for all artistic sports. While the ISU does not have a contractual relationship with ClicknClear, we continue to work collaboratively with rights clearance stakeholders to ensure that thrilling performances can be accompanied by stirring music.”
The timing leaves Guarino Sabaté with limited options. Skaters typically spend months building choreography that matches specific musical phrasing and emotional beats. Switching music days before competition often means simplifying elements, adjusting step sequences or reverting to older programs.
One potential fallback could involve returning to music he used in previous seasons, though even that carries complications if similar artists or tracks are already tied to other programs or require new clearance.
The men’s singles event is scheduled to begin on 10 February at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, leaving little time for rehearsal under competition conditions.
Despite the setback, Guarino Sabaté said he intends to compete regardless of the final music choice, thanking fans for supporting the program throughout the season.
“I promise to step on the ice with everything I have and deliver programs that both you and I can be proud of,” he said.
Category: General Sports
