Tessa Virtue is a name that goes hand in hand with Scott Moir, so much so that it’s almost hard to separate one from the other. Together, the two men made Canada proud of their country as the most decorated ice dance team and Olympic skaters of all time. Partners for more than 20 years, they are the longest-lasting ice dance team in their country’s history.
Tessa Virtue, alongside Scott Moir, is an eight-time Canadian National Champion, three-time World Champion and three-time Four Continents Champion. She has won five Olympic medals, including two silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics and three gold medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics and two at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Here are five interesting facts about Tessa Virtue you should know.
5 interesting facts about Tessa Virtue
1. Tessa Virtue was a very athletic child.
Tessa Virtue began proving herself early on that she was the last of four children of her parents, Kate and Jim Virtue, she was not going to be the least of them all. In fact, she turned out to be the best. From an early age, Virtue participated in many sporting activities, including gymnastics and track.
As a gymnast, Virtue started learning ballet and was so good that the National Ballet School offered her the opportunity to attend school when she was 9 years old. However, Virtue agreed to become a professional figure skater and we are all thrilled about it.
2. Start early with Scott Moir
Living in the same neighborhood as Scott Moir, Tessa was friends with him when she was really little and the two have now revealed that they sort of dated around that time. Noticing how adorable they were together, Moir’s aunt, Carol Moir, paired them up and began training them. As the story goes, they could barely look at each other as they danced. It happened in 1997, at a time when Virtue was 7 years old and Moir was 9 years old. They would then come to train with coaches Paul MacIntosh and Suzanne Killing in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Their first medal together was bronze at the 2002 Canadian Championships.
3. Tessa Virtue’s journey to stardom
Looking at the level of confidence that Virtue walks on ice, one can only wonder how many hours of practice its perfection costs. The answer is 6 hours a day. Virtue trains on the ice for 4 hours and spends the other 2 hours getting fit in the gym. When it comes to diet, Virtue is no extremist. Besides proteins and vegetables, she adds other essential nutrients from time to time. She sometimes lets herself be tempted by a lemon meringue pie and chocolates to satisfy her guilty pleasure.
4. What you didn’t know about her relationship with Scott Moir
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have amazing chemistry on and off the ice so much that many believe the two are in a romantic relationship despite constant denial from them. Fans have described them as kindred spirits whose souls are already married to each other. Their passion is unmatched in the world of ice skating and you can’t blame their fans for being so obsessed with them. Virtue described his relationship with Noir as simply platonic and that they are nothing more than business partners, but when they perform, their body language screams otherwise. Some have speculated that the two are in love and dating, but only hide it from the media so as not to damage their partnership.
5. She has a degree in psychology
Tessa Virtue is a beauty with brains. Long hours of practice invested in her sports career did not prevent her from continuing her studies. In 2007, she began studying psychology part-time at the University of Windsor. After years of expressing her love for academics through the media, Virtue kept her word and returned to school in 2014 to graduate. This time, she chose the University of Western Ontario. Studying in France and attending law school are among her long-term academic goals.