Meryl Davis and Charlie White open Rockefeller Center’s iconic ice rink last October in New York City.
“I wasn’t expecting to still be so busy, more than a year and a half after the Olympics. It’s a fabulous thing and I’m so honored.”
— Meryl Davis
on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” which Da- vis won with pro partner Maksim Chmerkovs- kiy. Even their moms, Cheryl Davis and Jacqui White, are the best of friends. It’s so perfect, part of you wonders just
how the stars managed to align so well. “Te work ethic we have, the respect for
each other, the focus — we didn’t just figure that out for ourselves,” White said. “Tere were a lot of ups and downs we had to navigate through, but we were able to do so because of the strength of our families, especially our parents.” He’s quick to add happy circumstance
was far from the only key ingredient. “A lot of people just don’t want to put
the work and sacrifice in with no guarantee,” White said. “I think that’s something that scares people away from putting 100 percent into anything, because if you sacrifice every- thing you can, and you still come up short, what does that mean? We got through some
self-doubt and made it work because we wanted it.”
Each skater had crises
of confidence. White remem- bers competing at their first Junior Grand Prix in 2002, in what was then Belgrade, Yugoslavia, against older, taller and more experienced teams. Tey placed sixth behind victors Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia, a team they would meet many times in years to come. “Your eyes are just opened to how amaz-
ing everyone else in the world is,” he said. “Some judges would say, ‘You really don’t be- long here. You’re always going to be just too small.’ Shabalin was like 6-foot-1 and just flying around the ice. It’s just so in-your-face. All we could control was how hard we worked. Tat was tough.” Davis, who is open about her challenges
RYAN PIERSE/GETTY IMAGES SKATING 23
Davis and White celebrate their Olympic ice dance gold medal in Sochi, Russia. The historic achievement — they became the first U.S. ice dance team to win Olympic gold — has paved the way for countless opportunities on and off the ice for the veteran team from Michigan.
PHOTOS BY ASTRID STAWIARZ/WIREIMAGE
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