Figure skating couple Evan Bates and Madison Chock celebrate 'second honeymoon' in Paris with surprise win
PARIS, FRANCE: Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the US Olympic figure skating team have now become Olympic gold medallists as a married couple.
According to People magazine, when the ice dancers participated in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, they had been in a relationship for over five years. Initially, the US figure skating team secured second place in that Olympics.
However, after it was revealed that Russian skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for the banned substance Trimetazidine, an investigation was launched to scrutinize the legitimacy of the country's gold medal.
Over the subsequent two-and-a-half years, Chock, 32, and Bates, 35, got engaged and tied the knot earlier this summer.
Their medals were finally awarded to them on Wednesday, August 7, now adjusted to gold, as Valieva received a four-year ban from the sport. The medal ceremony took place in Paris during the 2024 Summer Games.
What did the couple say after receiving their gold medals in Paris?
"We've been skating together for 13 years now," Bates told People. "We've known each other for 18 years. This is my best friend, my partner on the ice and off the ice. And growing up, this is what every figure skater dreams of, is winning an Olympic gold medal."
"And to do it for Team USA makes it extra special," he added.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates, along with their American teammates Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Karen Chen, Alexa Knierim, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, and Zachary Donohue, were awarded gold medals alongside the members of Team Japan, who received silver medals, on August 7. The ceremony took place with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Bates said, "Our team was so bonded and so connected throughout the whole thing that when we all got reconnected in Paris, it was just so fun."
The couple expressed that their trip to Paris felt like "definitely a second honeymoon, which was a bonus that we weren't expecting."
Bates and Chock's wedding was in a romantic oceanside ceremony in Hawaii on Thursday, June 20.
Bates now reflects, "We got married on Oahu in June, and it was absolutely picture perfect.”
Chock humorously remarked about their newly acquired status as married gold medalists, "It's unbelievable. Mr And Mrs Gold Medal."
