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: