Four-time Olympian Madison Chock has deep family roots in Hawai’i.
Chock was inspired to start skating by fellow Californian and Asian-American athlete Michelle Kwan.
She and her ice dance partner, Evan Bates, are three-time world champions and seven-time U.S. champions.
Chock and Bates, who recently married in Hawai’i, are seeking their first Olympic ice dance medal.
MILAN — With her panda bear in her hand, 5-year-old Madison Chock made a proclamation to her cousin.
“I’m going to go to the Olympics!” she exclaimed.
Very ambitious of a child, and certainly got a laugh out of parents Wes and Barbara Chock. They didn’t have an idea the enjoyment they shared over figure skating that began “way before she was born” would eventually capture the attention of their daughter. She had just started learning to skate and was already making declarations to family.
But flash forward about 28 years later and it’s clear it wasn’t some young, wishful thought. That determined, fierce nature displayed on the ice has always been there.
Chock said she was going to go to the Olympics. Well, how about four of them?
“It really has been a journey and incredible,” Barbara Chock told USA TODAY Sports.
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An ice dance journey that begins in an unexpected place: Hawai’i.
Wes is from the islands, born on the big island and lived in Maui and Oahu, and eventually met Barbara on an airplane. She moved to Hawai’i, danced hula and was even a backup singer for iconic Hawaiian singer Don Ho.
They moved to California, where Madison was born, but kept that Hawaiian culture ingrained in their daughter’s life, starting off with the middle names of La’akea – sacred light from heaven in Hawaiian – and Te-Lan – unique orchid in Chinese – to honor her backgrounds.
Even though she wasn’t a kama’aina – a Hawaiian resident – Madison loved visiting and connecting with the islands. Grandma, grandpa and all the cousins were there. Wes would visit often, and Madison typically tagged along, where she was at the beach “all the time,” her dad noted.
“She just grew up loving Hawai’i,” Barbara said. “We’d go every chance we could.”
Madison spent countless hours connecting with her roots, accustomed to the sand and waves of Hawai’i while something special was building on the ice in the mainland.
Her interest in figure skating piqued with a pioneer Asian-American athlete also from California: Michelle Kwan. Madison asked her mom “Can you teach me that?” They couldn’t really, so they put her in lessons.
It was evident early on there was something different. As other kids cried or didn’t enjoy learning, Madison didn’t complain. She just wanted more. Before they knew it, what started as once a week classes turned into six days a week.
“I said, ‘Oh, she looks different on the ice. She just kind of glides across the ice. Her arms were so pretty,” Barbara said. “I told Wes that’s something different.”
That eventually led to the Chocks moving to Michigan to pursue ice dance, and it was anything but an ordinary move. Madison made it to their new home state, but her parents took turns watching her, while the other was back in California packing everything up.
The craziness didn’t stop there. Wes and Barbara transferred jobs to the Midwest, but to Chicago. So that meant commuting from the Detroit area to Chicago for work, all so Madison could evolve her ice dance career.
Sacrifices all made worth it. With partner Greg Zuerlein, the pair were junior grand prix, world and U.S. champions by the time she was age 17. Her partnership with Evan Bates began in 2011 and together they became one of the greatest American ice dance pairs in history.
Three-time world champions. Three-time grand prix champions. A record seven-time U.S. champions. A historic figure skater, while never forgetting what molded her.
During their dominant run, Chock and Bates skated at the rink Ice Palace in Honolulu – the only ice rink in the state – in 2014 and 2015, showcasing their talents at a place not known for figure skating. Chock also got to meet the young skaters she was inspiring, as Wes recalled how many were excited to see her.
“I take my Hawaiian roots very seriously,” Chock said. “They’re so near and dear to my heart.”
It was the perfect place for the couple to tie the knot: They got married in 2024 at Lanikūhonua Cultural Institute on the west side of Oahu. All during this, Bates learned quickly how connected people are on islands. In true Hawaiian ohana fashion, Chock’s cousin manages the rink.
“It feels like there are Chocks all over Hawai’i,” Bates said.
The Chocks and Hawai’i will be watching the 2026 Winter Olympics as the fourth trip is expected to be the last for the girl who said she would make it. With team gold in hand, captured on Sunday night, Chock and Bates are now going for the only accolade missing from their storied careers: an Olympic ice dance medal, with a great chance of it being gold.
Barbara said it will be a bittersweet experience in Milano Cortina. Of course, Barbara and Wes are proud of everything their daughter has achieved. But most of all, “we’re most proud that she’s a really nice, nice person.”
The pair have said several times they feel like they are hitting their stride at the right time. They haven’t said this is the end, but it would be the perfect way to cap it off if it is.
If they do capture that long desired ice dance Olympic medal, what better way than to celebrate back on the islands? Now that marriage ties have made it feel a little bit more like home for Bates, he is certain “we’ll spend more time on the islands.”
The Milano Ice Skating Arena will be the setting for Chock to display that determined, fierce spirit she’s had since she vowed to be on this stage. A stage on which she’ll be able to show off the cultural background that shaped her — guided her every step of the way.
“It’s a joy to be a part of and I’m really happy to have that fusion of Hawai’i and a winter sport together,” Chock said. “It means so much to us to be able to showcase and have that representation of Hawai’i on the ice.”