Gold Medal Ice Dancer Tessa Virtue Didn’t Always Want Scott Moir as Her Olympic Partner

Figure skating’s most-decorated duo of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir weren’t always the perfect pair. In fact, Canadian three-time gold medal winner Virtue revealed that at a young age she had her eye on someone else to partner with for a future Olympic career: Moir’s older brother, Danny.

When the 2018 Winter Olympics ice dancing champion in PyeongChang was asked about her early ambitions, she admitted that she had not necessarily planned on becoming the most decorated female figure skater in the world, with five medals over three Olympics — but she did have Olympic dreams from an early age, as recorded by a Canadian TV host.

“Certainly not, although in Grade One I did write in my journal that I wanted to be at the Olympics with Danny Moir, Scott’s brother, so I’m close,” Virtue reportedly said of her intentions back then. Danny Moir, who’s seven years older than his brother Scott, was also a professional ice dancer and later an ice dance coach based at one point in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although he did compete and attain some titles in the junior circuit, the older Moir did not find the golden success that his younger brother has discovered alongside Virtue.

He did, however, have an inkling of what was to come. Way back in 2005, he predicted their Olympic potential. “If they keep working and improving and do well on the senior Grand Prix circuit, you start thinking of stuff like world championships and the Olympics,” he said then after watching them perform.

For years, people have speculated about the relationship between Virtue and Scott, the Moir brother who ultimately did become her Olympic partner. (They were paired at ages seven and nine, respectively, and have continued with their skating partnership for over 20 years.) While they admit that they briefly dated as kids, they maintain that their relationship now is of the platonic variety, to the dismay of their legions of devoted fans.