Bridging the political divide: U.S. and Canadian skaters hope sports can unify during worlds in Boston

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States, pose after winning the gold medal in the ice dance event at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Dec. 7, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

BOSTON — American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates always have been treated with such kindness and support from the people in their longtime training base in Montreal that Canada has become a second home for them.

Many of their closest friends are Canadian. They spend as much time there as they do in the United States.

None of that has changed, necessarily, despite the divisive rhetoric from government officials from both countries and tariff wars simmering between the longtime allies. Yet the two figure skaters have started to notice some other differences lately.

“We were at a cafe last weekend,” Chock said, “and Evan ordered a coffee — an Americano — and the barista delivered it and said, ‘Here’s your Canadien.' And we were like, ‘Oh. It’s an Americano, and they don’t want to call it an Americano, for obvious reasons.'

“That was our first experience with that being reflected in Canada.”

Now, the reigning world champions are curious what will transpire this week in Boston, where they’ll be trying to win their third straight title against a field that includes their dear friends and longtime rivals, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada.

Will the American fans at TD Bank Garden support everyone universally, as is the custom in figure skating, when competition begins Wednesday? Or will there be more robust cheering than usual for Chock and Bates, and perhaps even some boos for their neighbors from the north, in what should be a preview of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy?

“America has always had a very global reach when it comes to politics and culture,” Chock said, reflecting on that cafe encounter, ”but we never really saw that truly reflected in her until that moment, when it was like, ‘Oh, OK. I understand now.’”

World pairs champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are just as uncertain what kind of reception they will get in Boston. Stellato-Dudek was born in the Chicago suburbs, but about three months ago she passed the exam to become a Canadian citizen, which was required for her to compete for that country at the Winter Olympics.

That plan was set in motion long before Donald Trump returned to the White House, when the notion of Canada becoming a 51st state seemed downright absurd and American liquor was still being stocked on the shelves of Canadian shops.

Stellato-Dudek twice finished third at the U.S. championships with Nathan Bartholomay before splitting in 2019, and that’s when she teamed up with Deschamps, who had separated from his American partner Sydney Kolodziej the previous year.

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps considered skating for the U.S., but they were concerned he would not be granted American citizenship in time to compete at the Milano-Cortina Games; the Olympic Charter requires athletes to hold the nationality of the country represented by their National Olympic Committee in order to compete at the Summer or Winter Games.

“I did represent America for many years. I’m very proud to represent Canada. I’m now a Canadian citizen, which is the honor of my life,” Stellato-Dudek said. “And I have family that still lives in America that will be at an American worlds to come watch me. They are there to cheer me on, and I’m excited to skate for them.

“I think sports is one of the few things that bring people together from all different nationalities and all over the world,” Stellato-Dudek added, “and I hope this world championships does this for everybody as well.”

It promises to be an interesting test case given that the U.S. will be hosting — along with Canada and Mexico — the World Cup next year, and two years later, Los Angeles will be welcoming the world for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Even newly elected International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry, a former Zimbabwe swimmer who graduated from Auburn University, alluded to the challenges that could come with dealing with the Trump administration, whether that be due to trade wars, the war in Ukraine, diversity issues or a host of other potentially discordant viewpoints.

“I have been dealing with, let’s say difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old,” Coventry said after winning the IOC election in Costa Navarino, Greece. “What I have learned is that communication will be key.”

In the meantime, figure skaters headed to Boston this week are hoping to communicate that sports can be a unifying force.

“I mean, we’ve kind of gone about (that) sport isn’t political. We’ve been raised that way,” said Gilles, who was born in Rockford, Illinois, but whose mother and grandmother are Canadian and who became a Canadian citizen herself 12 years ago.

“We’re lucky to be able to skate in Canada and the U.S. and been welcomed on both soils,” she said. “We’re kind of focused on our job, and let sport be sport, and not let it be political. We can’t focus on what we can’t control. We can control our skating and we can control that we’re proud of our country and proud to represent our country in the U.S.”

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Dave Skretta, The Associated Press