Olympic champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates were recognized for their amazing chemistry on the ice long before they began a romantic relationship. The couple will compete again for Team USA at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, their fourth Olympic Games.二人は婚約したのと同じ年、2022年北京冬季五輪で金メダルを獲得した。 Will they be able to surpass that kind of success in 2026?
This will be their first time participating in the Olympics as a married couple, so the possibilities are endless. Here’s the two skating champions’ complete relationship timeline so far:
2011
ベイツとペアになる前、マディソンはグレッグ・ザーラインとスケートをしていた。 After five years together, Zerlein decided to retire from figure skating.
“I really want to see if I can continue skating with the right partner,” Chock said at the time. 「グレッグと私は素晴らしいパートナーシップを築いてきました。彼の引退は残念ですが、次の挑戦を楽しみにしています。」
“The first year we weren’t successful,” Bates said. 「その後、私たちはそれを失う直前にその成功を見つけました。そして、またそれを見つけ、そしてまた失い、という繰り返しでした。私たちは逆境を乗り越えるためにたくさんの練習をしてきました。私たちは一緒に厳しいことを乗り越えましたが、それに直面して笑顔になることを学んだこと、つまり自分自身を出し続けて競争し続けたいということを学んだことが、私たちを団結させ、私たちを強くしました。」
2014
Although the two participated in the Sochi Olympics, they were not yet dating.
2017
Bates takes a big risk and confesses that he has feelings for Chock that are more than just teammates. He told NBC in 2018, “Well, I pretty much told Maddie I loved her. Last year, I told[her]how I really felt, and that made a huge difference.”
2018
They headed to Pyeongchang for their first Olympics as a couple. They spilled liquid during their routine, ending their hopes of winning a medal that year.
2022
At the Beijing Olympics, the couple served as co-subtitlers for Team USA, which won its first Olympic medal in team competition. They had initially won the silver medal, but in a shocking upset, the Russian team was disqualified due to a doping scandal. The American team won the gold medal.
In June of the same year, Bates and Chock announced that they were engaged. In an Instagram post, Chock wrote, “I left home with my boyfriend and came back with my fiancé!”
“We were obviously already talking about that and our future and our plans,” Chock told USFS. “We both knew the day would come when we would get engaged, but we didn’t know exactly when. We were coming to the end of an exciting period in our lives. Many great things had happened, but this was the most wonderful of them all. It was a wonderful way to end our last year and begin a new chapter with each other.”
“We went to Thailand for the ISU General Assembly and it was so beautiful and so nice,” Bates said. “I thought, ‘I’ve got the ring, all the pieces are in place. You should do this. What am I waiting for?’ It was obvious that it was time to propose. We’ve been through a lot. We’ve been through a lot. As soon as the Olympic year ends, there’s always a chain reaction of postponed life events happening all of a sudden. We’ve been so focused on that goal that if we had a moment to stop and take a breather, we could think about it and look at the big picture.”
In the same year, Chock told how they actually went on an unofficial date when she was only 16 (Bates was three years older than Chock) before becoming his official skating partner.
“Evan took me out to dinner for my 16th birthday and we went to Bahama Breeze,” Chock said. “It was really fun. He gave me a hoodie, a PINK zip-up hoodie with turquoise letters on it. It was so long ago, but that was our first official date.”
2024
The two married two years later on June 20, 2024 in Hawaii.
2026
In a January interview with Us Weekly, Bates talked a little about her early romance.
“We skated together for five years and it was just a friendship, but the friendship was good,” he explained. “From day one, we always had a connection. We laughed and enjoyed spending time together. It made skating so much fun. Over the course of five years, we had some successes, some times we didn’t, and a lot of trying times. During those trying times, I realized how much I depended on Maddy and felt like I really connected with her in a way that was more than just a skating partner.”
He continued, “I remember thinking, ‘I really can’t imagine one day leaving the rink, going our separate ways, becoming friends, and never seeing each other again.'”私は気づきを与え、その気づきを共有しました、そして幸運なことに、その気づきは報われました。 That changed everything about our relationship and partnership. ”
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