Olympics-Valentine’s Day on ice: Athletes in Italy juggle romance with medal pressure

By Rory Carroll

MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) – With Valentine’s Day falling in the middle of this month’s Winter Olympics in Italy, dinner reservations and roses will have to share space with early alarms, sore muscles and the emotional strain of competing on sport’s biggest stage.

U.S. ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates, a married couple appearing in their fourth Games together, have not locked in plans yet but expect Italy to do some of the work for them.

“I love an Olympic Valentine’s Day,” Chock told Reuters.

“We don’t really have any plans at the moment, so we are open to suggestions. But I think Italy is a very romantic place, so I’m sure we’ll find some lovely Valentine’s Day opportunities.”

Bates said the couple’s approach, on and off the ice, is to stay grounded in the routines and the relationship that brought them there.

“We’ve always just tried to be ourselves and stay rooted in what we love, which is skating,” he said.

“And I hope people will connect with that authenticity, because that’s really who we are and what we’re about – loving what we do and loving the person that we get to do it with.”

SHARED UNDERSTANDING

For athletes in other sports, Valentine’s Day at the Olympics can be less about a night out than having someone who understands the high-performance mindset and pressure that comes with it.

U.S. women’s ice hockey player Hilary Knight said having her partner, speed skater Brittany Bowe, in her corner has provided perspective when the intensity ramps up and the margin for error narrows.

“Sometimes being in different sports provides a level of perspective and clarity,” Knight said, describing how Bowe’s input can help when she is too close to a problem.

“She knows that high-performance mindset. She knows what it takes to get into those rooms.”

Bowe said the last four years have been enriched by sharing the ups and downs of elite sport with someone living a similar reality, and by finding moments to drop the competitive edge.

“It’s added a really fun element into the last four years of my life being able to take off my competitive hat,” Bowe said, adding that being a fan and cheering on Knight and the U.S. team has brought “a lot of joy” to her life.

LOVE ON ICE

In the Paralympic ranks, multi-sport athletes Oksana Masters and Aaron Pike said the holiday can look decidedly unglamorous when it lands on a race day, though Masters joked that competition has its own kind of romance.

“Oftentimes we’re racing on Valentine’s Day,” Masters said. “So, what’s more beautiful than snot rockets across the course and racing?”

Masters said Pike still finds ways to mark the day with cards and letters, even as she acknowledged that her competitive instincts did not always switch off.

“He sets the bar so high for me in the relationship,” she said.

“And I’m like, ‘This is so sweet, but you just set the bar real high. Like, what am I supposed to do with this? How do I beat this?’ So, I guess I am competitive in everything I think and do.”

Pike said what mattered most was the ability to go back to the same room, and the same understanding, after the noise of competition faded.

“Just having each other, that person that you can say anything to, it’s definitely made it a lot easier to be the best that we can be at major competitions.”

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris)