Inside the Winter Olympians’ Love Lives
Gold medal love! As Team USA’s finest athletes compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics, their loved ones are some of their biggest fans.
Shaun White, who competed in his final Winter Olympics in February 2022, has been dating actress Nina Dobrev since 2020. Once White took a spontaneous trip to visit Dobrev on the set of Redeeming Love in South Africa, the X Games medalist knew he found love.
“That was actually how we kind of started our relationship,” White exclusively told Us Weekly in January 2022. “I was like, ‘All right. Yeah. OK.’ And she [thought], ‘Oh, this guy, he came to play. He’s serious.’ So that’s a thing that we share together. We both enjoy traveling.”
He added at the time: “I wish I could sum it up into one or two things. It’s such a mix of everything. Like our dogs [Maverick and Steve] get along, you know? We have common interests. The way in which we met really kind of strengthened our relationship. And the problems that we do face, they kind of fall away through communication. It’s just been great.”
While the 2022 Olympians’ loves were unable to support the athletes in person due to coronavirus protocols, fans like Dobrev (and her dogs!) settled for watching the sports events on TV.
“We’ll be anxiously watching from home and cheering him on,” the Vampire Diaries alum told Us in February 2022. “I’m very, very excited for him. I can’t wait. I taped it, so it’s at the house, and as soon as I get home, I’m gonna sit down with my girlfriends and we’re gonna catch up and watch. … [He’s had] such an incredibly long and amazing, successful run of the sport.”
Dobrev and the Air & Style founder are not the only Winter Olympians to find love. Evan Bates and ice dance partner Madison Chock — whose joint performance helped Team USA clinch a silver medal in the 2022 figure skating team event — not only compete together, they have also been dating since 2017.
“We just really fell in love on the ice and grew closer together,” Bates — who shares two dogs with Chock — told Us in September 2018, noting that he previously had a crush on her when they were teenagers. “I love her personality. I love her zest for life. You can just see it when she walks into a room.”
Chock, for her part, told Us at the time: “What don’t I love about him? He’s so smart. He’s one of the smartest people I have had the pleasure of knowing.”
Scroll below to find out who the Winter Olympians have dated through the years:
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Team USA’s Dating Histories: Inside Shaun White, Mikaela Shiffrin and More Winter Olympians’ Love Lives
Gold medal love! As Team USA’s finest athletes compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics, their loved ones are some of their biggest fans.
Shaun White, who competed in his final Winter Olympics in February 2022, has been dating actress Nina Dobrev since 2020. Once White took a spontaneous trip to visit Dobrev on the set of Redeeming Love in South Africa, the X Games medalist knew he found love.
“That was actually how we kind of started our relationship,” White exclusively told Us Weekly in January 2022. “I was like, ‘All right. Yeah. OK.’ And she [thought], ‘Oh, this guy, he came to play. He’s serious.’ So that’s a thing that we share together. We both enjoy traveling.”
He added at the time: “I wish I could sum it up into one or two things. It’s such a mix of everything. Like our dogs [Maverick and Steve] get along, you know? We have common interests. The way in which we met really kind of strengthened our relationship. And the problems that we do face, they kind of fall away through communication. It’s just been great.”
While the 2022 Olympians’ loves were unable to support the athletes in person due to coronavirus protocols, fans like Dobrev (and her dogs!) settled for watching the sports events on TV.
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“We’ll be anxiously watching from home and cheering him on,” the Vampire Diaries alum told Us in February 2022. “I’m very, very excited for him. I can’t wait. I taped it, so it’s at the house, and as soon as I get home, I’m gonna sit down with my girlfriends and we’re gonna catch up and watch. … [He’s had] such an incredibly long and amazing, successful run of the sport.”
Dobrev and the Air & Style founder are not the only Winter Olympians to find love. Evan Bates and ice dance partner Madison Chock — whose joint performance helped Team USA clinch a silver medal in the 2022 figure skating team event — not only compete together, they have also been dating since 2017.
“We just really fell in love on the ice and grew closer together,” Bates — who shares two dogs with Chock — told Us in September 2018, noting that he previously had a crush on her when they were teenagers. “I love her personality. I love her zest for life. You can just see it when she walks into a room.”
Chock, for her part, told Us at the time: “What don’t I love about him? He’s so smart. He’s one of the smartest people I have had the pleasure of knowing.”
Scroll below to find out who the Winter Olympians have dated through the years:
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Credit: Scott Kirkland/Shutterstock
Shaun White
Before the professional snowboarder found love with the Love Hard actress, he was previously linked to Westworld’s Summer Spiro, Lindsay Lohan, Bar Refaeli and Sarah Barthel. Us broke the news of White’s romance with Dobrev one month before they made their Instagram debut in May 2020.
“What’s been really great is she can snowboard really well because I’m not the best teacher,” the California native told Us in October 2021 of the Degrassi alum. “For some reason, I can do it, but I just have a really hard time explaining it how. I remember our first riding day together, I was like, ‘OK, I’m getting ready for her to be falling,’ and I zipped down the mountain and I turned around. I was like, ‘Oh gosh, I hope she’s OK.’ I’m sitting there for a minute and I was like, ‘Uh-oh. Do I unstrap and walk up? Maybe she fell. I’m the horrible guy that just took off.’ She had passed me during my run somehow. Going way faster than me. She was already waiting at the chairlifts.”
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Mikaela Shiffrin
The Colorado native, who previously romanced Mathieu Faivre and Brennan Rubie, has been dating fellow Olympic skier Aleksander Kilde since 2021.
“When you look at this picture you can make up so many statements, meanings and thoughts,” the Norwegian athlete paid tribute to his girlfriend via Instagram in February 2022 after her event. “Most of you probably look at it saying: ‘she has lost it,’ ‘she can’t handle the pressure’ or ‘what happened?’… Which makes me frustrated, because all I see is a top athlete doing what a top athlete does! It’s a part of the game and it happens. The pressure we all put on individuals in the sports are enormous, so let’s give the same amount of support back. It’s all about the balance and we are just normal human beings!! I love you Kaela.”
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Chloe Kim
Kim has been dating skateboarder Evan Berle since January 2020. Berle, for his part, honored his love’s February 2022 gold medal victory via Instagram: “This girl! It is so hard for me to reflect on the emotions I have been feeling the last 24 hours because I am still in shock! I am so beyond proud of you and all the work you have put in for this moment. … You are the most incredible woman in the world, you inspire me everyday, and I am so honored to be a part of your life. I love you, congratulations! ❤️”
Credit: Courtesy of Alexa Knierim/Instagram
Alexa Knierim
The pair’s figure skater — who’s professionally partnered with Brandon Frazier in 2022 — has been married to retired Olympian Chris Knierim since June 2016. Alexa and Chris were former partners who last competed at the 2018 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where they earned a bronze medal in the team event.
Credit: AP/Shutterstock
Jessie Diggins
The cross-country skier got engaged to longtime boyfriend Wade Poplawski in April 2020.
Credit: Courtesy of Evan Bates/Instagram
Evan Bates
After Bates and Chock became dance partners shortly before the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, the pair’s bond soon turned romantic. In addition to skating together and dating, the twosome share two dogs who “look like us.”
Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Jamie Anderson
Anderson started dating Tyler Nicholson in 2015 before he popped the question in January 2022. The pair announced they were expecting their first child together less than a year later.
“The most precious and beautiful I’ve ever felt,” she captioned a pair of photos from her maternity shoot in December 2022. “So incredibly grateful.”
Credit: Courtesy of Madison Hubbell/Instagram
Madison Hubbell
The Michigan native dated her current ice dance partner, Zachary Donahue, for nearly three years. Upon their split, she moved on with Adrián Díaz, a Spanish ice dancer, in 2014. Hubbell and Díaz announced their engagement in April 2018.
Credit: AP/Shutterstock
John Shuster
The curling medalist is married to Sarah Shuster, with whom he shares two sons.
Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock
Hailey Langland
Langland and fellow snowboarder Red Gerard started dating ahead of their 2018 Olympic debuts.
“It’s incredible, I feel super lucky,” Gerard told Olympics.com in January 2022. “To snowboard with your girlfriend, your best friend, both of us push each other in really good ways. She’s a lot more mellow, I have a lot more anxiety.”