BEIJING (Reuters) – American ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue bent down and kissed the Olympic rings on the ice at the Capital Indoor Stadium after winning a bronze medal on Monday.
Having finished fourth in 2018 in Pyeongchang, Hubbell, 30, and Donohue, 31, savoured their emotional podium finish and were in a jovial mood later, laughing heartily when asked if they would compete at the 2026 Olympics.
The pair were told that Britons Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were 36 and 35 years old when they won Olympic ice dancing bronze in 1994 but the Americans insisted they will retire as planned in June.
“I’m not saying that physically it’s not possible, but no,” Hubbell told reporters. “Maybe we’ll have a very successful transition into a career where we could be alongside some of our coaches and be here in another capacity, but on the Olympic ice, it’s not happening.”
Donohue agreed with his partner, though he did acknowledge the performance of U.S. team mates Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner who won the snowboard cross mixed team gold in Beijing at the ages of 36 and 40.
“I did see that our snowboarding gold medallists’ combined age was like 73 or something like that,” he said.
The ice dance bronze was Hubbell and Donohue’s second Olympic medal after they opened their campaign in Beijing by winning the rhythm dance in the team event, helping the U.S. to silver.
“When I finished, I just was grateful for being here,” said Hubbell. “It was just a moment I think for both of us to say goodbye to Olympic ice, and thank this journey that’s created the people that we are today.”
Hubbell joked about trying out a different sport.
“Maybe we’ll come back as curlers,” she said. “We could do a mixed curling team.”
(This story corrects third para to say Torvill and Dean won bronze in 1994)
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma, editing by Ed Osmond)
