Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis and Madison Hubbell are breaking boundaries in figure skating by performing as a same-sex pair. Their partnership aims to inspire change in competitive skating and promote inclusivity in the sport.
Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis and Madison Hubbell took to the ice at a figure skating gala in Zurich on Thursday, aiming to "push the limit" of the sport as a same-sex pair performing together.
In 2022, Skate Canada became the first governing body to allow same-sex duos to compete at the national level. However, Papadakis and Hubbell are the most high-profile same-sex pair to perform together.
"The sports world can be more conservative than, let's say, the art world, and ice dance kind of bridges that gap," said Hubbell, 33, in an interview with AFP. "I'm excited to see more people asking, 'Why not push the limits?'"
Papadakis, a French skater, and Hubbell, an American, will perform together at the "Art on Ice Gala," a series of shows across Switzerland in February. The two women, long-time competitive rivals, trained alongside each other at the Ice Academy in Montreal, Canada.
"We were friends, and one day during training, we skated together for fun," Papadakis recalled. "At first, it was just for laughs, but we soon realized it was really enjoyable. We told ourselves, 'When our competitive careers are over, we'll try this for real.'"
After the Olympics, the duo made skating videos together, and "one thing led to another," Papadakis explained. "The producers of Art on Ice contacted us to see if we'd be interested in putting on a show for them, and that's how we ended up here."
Papadakis and Hubbell hope their example and Skate Canada's progressive policies will inspire global change.
"There are a lot of people trying to make this change happen within international and national bodies, and we wanted to contribute in our own way," said Papadakis. "It wasn't our initial intention, but we've come to understand what our partnership represents."
Papadakis added that skating with Hubbell opened her eyes to unspoken "codes" in the sport that she had never questioned before.
The pair also hope to inspire other same-sex couples to pursue competitive careers in figure skating. "That might be my dream for this next step," said Hubbell, now a figure skating coach in Canada.
Hubbell expressed curiosity about how same-sex pairs could fit into existing competitive rules. "People often say men would have an advantage because they're better at lifts, but lifting is just a skill like any other. If young women were trained from an early age to lift, as we see in circus arts or other disciplines, the playing field could be more balanced than many assume."
Papadakis retired last year with her long-time partner Guillaume Cizeron after winning five world titles and an Olympic gold medal in Beijing 2022, following their silver medal in PyeongChang 2018. Hubbell and her partner Zachary Donohue also retired after winning Olympic team gold for the United States, ice dancing bronze in Beijing, and three world silver medals together.
With AFP
Comments