About Tessa Virtue
Tessa Jane McCormick Virtue CM OLY (born May 17, 1989) is a Canadian retired ice dancer. With ice dance partner Scott Moir, she is the 2010 and 2018 Olympic champion, the 2014 Olympic silver medallist, a three-time World champion (2010, 2012, 2017), a three-time Four Continents champion (2008, 2012, 2017), the 2016–17 Grand Prix Final champion, an eight-time Canadian National champion (2008–2010, 2012–2014, 2017–2018), the 2006 World Junior champion and the 2006 Junior Grand Prix gold medallists. Virtue and Moir are also the 2018 Olympic gold medallists in the team event and the 2014 Olympic silver medallists in the team event. Upon winning their third Olympic gold medal, they became the most decorated Canadian ice dance team of all time and the most decorated Olympic figure skaters of all time.Widely regarded as one of the greatest ice dance teams of all time,they are the only ice dancers in history to achieve a Super Slam, having won all major international competitions in their senior and junior careers. Virtue and Moir are holders of the world record score for the now-defunct original dance.
Virtue and Moir were paired in 1997, aged seven and nine. They are the 2004 Canadian junior champions and became Canada's top ice dance team in 2007. They are the 2008 World silver medallists and the 2009 World bronze medallists and became the first ice dance team to receive a 10.0 for a program component score under the new ISU Judging System.In 2010, they became the first ice dancers from North America to win an Olympic gold medal, ending the 34-year streak of the Europeans. Virtue and Moir are the youngest ice dance team ever to win an Olympic title, the first ice dancers to win a gold medal in their Olympic debut, and the first ice dance team to win Olympic gold on home ice.
Virtue and Moir continued to be one of the world's top ice dance teams after their first Olympic victory in 2010. They are the 2010 and 2012 World champions, the 2011 and 2013 World silver medallists, and the 2014 Olympic ice dance and team event silver medallists. After taking a two-season break from the sport, they returned to competition in the fall of 2016 and became the 2017 World champions, having an unprecedented undefeated season. At the 2018 Olympics, they became only the second ice dance team in history to have won two Olympic gold medals in the individual event.
Having skated together for over twenty years, Virtue and Moir are the longest-standing ice dance team in Canadian history.In 2018, Time magazine noted that "they've become especially beloved by new and returning spectators alike for their passionate performances and undeniable chemistry, on and off the ice".On September 17, 2019, Virtue and Moir announced that they are "stepping away" from the sport after 22 years as ice dancing partners.In 2020, Virtue and Moir were inducted to the Order of Canada "for their athletic excellence and for inspiring a new generation of figure skaters",and in 2023, they were inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Personal Life
Virtue was born and raised in London, Ontario, Canada.Born to Kate and Jim Virtue, she is the youngest of four children. She attended Holy Names High School in Windsor, Ontario, in addition to an electronic learning school called AMDEC based in Stratford, Ontario. She began skating at age six, having felt motivated to do so after a school field trip was set to take place at an ice arena.Two years into her partnership with Moir, a nine-year-old Virtue passed up the opportunity to enter the National Ballet School to devote herself to skating.She studied psychology at the University of Windsor in 2007,and as of 2014 was completing her degree at the University of Western Ontario.As a child, Virtue was also trained in gymnastics, track and other sports.
In 2004, Virtue began living in Canton, Michigan, in the US, to train under Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva. After the 2014 Olympics, she moved back to London, Ontario. In 2016, she moved to Montreal, Quebec, where she and Moir were coached by Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon.Virtue and Moir have previously described themselves as being each other's "best friend".Virtue added, "It’s a special partnership. We both think the world of one another.
Virtue is engaged to Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly.According to Rielly, they met one another via a mutual friend.Virtue began the Executive MBA program at Queen's University in the fall of 2020
Is the youngest of four children.
2006 world junior ice dancing champion with Scott Moir.
2008 world ice dancing silver medalist with Scott Moir.
2008 & 2009 Canadian national ice dancing champion with Scott Moir.
2009 Four Continents ice dancing figure skating silver medalist with Scott Moir.
2009 world ice dancing bronze medalist with Scott Moir.
