‘IT’S SO CRAZY’ T ere were times when Meryl Davis was
preparing for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games that she couldn’t help but think, “I’m training for the Olympics. I don’t think it can get any busier than this.” And then it did. Just moments after she and longtime part-
ner Charlie White fi nished their free dance and secured an Olympic gold medal, they were thrust into another period of time that made Olympic training almost seem easy. T ey entered as con- testants on the hit TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” and all the while, they crisscrossed the country performing with the Stars on Ice tour. T en Davis’ life spiraled into a new level of fame after she and “Dancing with the Stars” part- ner Maksim Chmerkovskiy claimed the show’s mirror ball trophy. “T e last few months we have been so out of touch with our own reality,” Davis said in a rare bit of free time fol- lowing her second major victory of 2014. “When you’re in it, you almost forget that all of this other stuff is going on outside. “It’s so crazy. It’s hard for us to wrap our heads around it,” she added. Davis said that the
reality of the rest of the world hit her when she saw friends and Olym- pic teammates Maia and Alex Shibutani, who stopped by at the Stars on Ice tour in Detroit. “T ey were talking about training and their programs and that really
12 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014
DAVIS AND WHITE READY FOR WHATEVER THE FUTURE HOLDS
by AMY ROSEWATER
took us aback,” Davis said. “T at all of this was still going on and we were in the midst of this part of our journey.”
After going, going, going for the last several
months, Davis said one of the things she looked forward to most in her post-Olympic, post-Danc- ing life was sleeping in her own bed. And she hasn’t been able to do much of that lately either. In addition to swirling and twirling on the ice and on the dance fl oor, Davis had her share of spon- sorship and media visits to New York City and elsewhere. Davis said she now has a newfound sense of respect for fellow Olympic champion Evan Lysacek, who juggled the demands of the post-Olympic glow and “Dancing with the Stars” following his gold-medal performance in Vancouver. “We knew it was possible to do
what we did this year, because we saw Evan do it in 2010,” Davis said. “I tell you now, our hats are off to him!”
Davis did, how-
ever, get to vacation in Hawaii in June (White went there as well, but the skaters made separate visits). Shortly after her brief dose of alo- ha, however, she found herself on the go once again. Although Da-
vis and White recently announced they were going to take off the 2014–15 competitive skating season — leaving
the door slightly ajar for a return after that — they didn’t give anyone reason to believe they would suddenly become couch potatoes. Here are some of their upcoming plans: Davis
and White plan to perform in several made-for-TV skating shows produced by Steve Disson. T ey also plan to skate in other shows around the world, with dates booked in Japan and Sun Valley, Idaho. And they also hope to fi nally wrap up their
University of Michigan degrees. “Charlie and I both probably have about one
more year left of school,” Davis said. “We had in- tended to go back to campus in the fall, but we’ll probably end up taking classes online instead.” Skating, of course, will continue to remain
a huge part of their lives. Davis said it is still sur- real to be introduced as “Olympic champions” at shows.
“T e fi rst time we heard that it was hard to
grasp it,” Davis said. “We had been working for it for so long and then to listen to our names being announced in front of so many fans. It was surreal.” Davis and White still are not sure what their exact skating plans will entail. White said he has some interest in coaching. White’s fi ancée, Tanith Belbin, who earned an Olympic silver medal in ice dance in 2006, has been involved in coaching and choreography and White has enjoyed watch- ing her work. “I’m defi nitely not looking to start out on
my own, but I have fun working with kids and it is fun to stay involved,” White said. Davis said she and White both have to fi gure
out what their future roles will be in the sport. T ey do know, however, that they want to keep U.S. ice dance on its current roll. “It’s incredibly important to us,” Davis said. “Charlie and I have had amazing role models and we know fi rsthand what that means. It’s a role that we don’t take lightly.”
ADAM TAYLOR/ABC
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