Hubbell and Donohue Relish Every Moment of Final Olympics

The dynamic between Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue has the capacity to astonish even other ice dancers.
 
After performing a group dance number on a previous "Stars on Ice" tour, Hubbell remembers Meryl Davis telling her, "I don't know how you do that because Zach changes the choreography every time."
 
"And I was like, 'That's part of his magic,'" Hubbell said.
 
She wouldn't have it any other way. Their partnership — based on their deep connection after nearly 11 years together — secured the bronze medal in ice dance at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and contributed to the team silver medal for the United States.
 
"I think there are teams and skaters in general who prefer to do something with a lot of repetition, — they're really great at executing the exact same thing," Hubbell said. "And then there are partnerships and people who have a little more improvisation. 
 
"And Zach and I, when we move our best, we're not thinking about matching — we just match. There might be a different arm here and there, but we really connect with each other's eyes. We speak to each other through the program with the way that we're touching, the way that we're looking at each other."
 
Hubbell added that their coaches have worked to make this approach work for them. They do connection calls, meditations and heart-to-heart exercises, all of which take real commitment and are often hand-in-hand. They're so connected that Donohue even comes from a hometown — Madison, Connecticut — that shares a name with his partner.
 
"Not everybody likes to live on the edge, but for us, that's our charm," said Hubbell, of Sylvania, Ohio, who turned 31 on Feb. 24. "I think Zach's the best ice dancer in the world. He thinks I'm the best ice dancer in the world. And that adoration, that love for each other, that power that we can share is something special and we've learned over the last four years how to harness it the best. That's what creates those moments at the end of the program where we're actually dancing together. There's a little bit of improv, there's a little bit of uniqueness and when you finish, yeah, it's fun and you feel like screaming."
 
Donohue, 31, did just that when they finished their Olympic rhythm dance to a medley of Janet Jackson hits, letting out a mighty whoop.
 
"Being able to connect in the way that we do and not just execute choreography and steps, but genuinely be able to feel a palpable connection between the two of us, it's exhilarating," said Donohue. "I know that we're very fortunate. I think it's a rare thing to be able to have that kind of palpable connection in a partnership. But it's the thing I treasure most about the way we skate together and it's never been stronger."
 
Neither could have envisioned that in 2011 when they were convinced to team up by coaches in Detroit. They didn't like each other. Donohue thought she was a brat, Hubbell recalled, and she thought he was a jerk.
 
But the 5-foot-8 Hubbell and 6-foot-3 Donohue were a perfect fit on the ice.
 
And within a year, they were dating. The romantic relationship only intensified what they had on the ice, until a few months later when the fighting began. After two and a half years as a couple off the ice, they realized they needed to break up — but they didn't want to lose each other as partners.
 
It wasn't easy, but they dealt with their feelings and even relocated to another country together. In 2015, they moved to Montreal to work with Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon at the Ice Academy of Montreal (I.AM), where almost half of the 23-team Olympic field in Beijing trained.
 
"You start with a dream and it all seems hunky dory, golden glory and as you work and the self-doubt creeps in you have to build each other up," said Donohue. "You have a team of people around you and the dream ebbs and flows."
 
Hubbell and Donohue worked on improving their lifts and captured three U.S. titles (2018, 2019 and 2021) and three World medals — silver in 2018 and 2021 and bronze in 2019.
 
They have the potential to win one more medal later this month at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Montpelier, France, before retiring from competition.
 
Even before this season began, Hubbell and Donohue announced that it would be their last.  
 
Hubbell said other people — some very close to them — questioned the wisdom of revealing that decision because they constantly would be asked to talk about it.
 
"They know that we're very emotional, especially me," she said. "I can be listening to music in the warmup area and just start crying."
 
But other people understood that their true nature is to be very vulnerable.

"They saw every day in training the proof that we were living up to what we said, which was, 'We're making this choice because we think it will put us in the moment, that we think it will make us appreciate every day because it's heartbreaking to walk away in some way,'" said Hubbell. "Skating and the things that we experienced together are irreplaceable."
 
At the 2018 Games in South Korea, they shared an experience that was both traumatic and motivating. They were in third place going into the free dance, then had a late fall and wound up fourth overall. 
 
Hubbell said she went into PyeongChang thinking that winning an Olympic medal would be "life-changing, you're going to all of a sudden believe in yourself, it's going to be magical. And fourth place is the worst! And then we got fourth and I cried about it for two days and then went home and I was like, 'No, fourth is way better than anything under fourth.'"
 
However, she said they didn't continue competing because they barely missed the podium in 2018.
 
"We stayed in because we still had something personally to conquer," Hubbell said. "We weren't satisfied with the consistency that we had shown in our career before that. I wasn't personally satisfied with my approach to the last Olympics because I went in a little bit fearful. And I wanted to bring my own spirit to that and go out on Olympic ice and attack it and be confident in myself and my ability. So we didn't stay here for a medal. We stayed because we felt like we had more to grow and more to give and that's also what went into our decision of being done at the end of this season."
 
Going into Beijing, Hubbell and Donohue were determined to have a completely different experience on multiple levels.

"Mentally we were more stable," Hubbell said. "Our friendship is deeper. Our general day-to-day joy of training has been so much different than other years."
 
"Over this past four years we've really learned how to believe in ourselves, regardless of how we're feeling or any outstanding circumstances," Donohue added.
 
In PyeongChang, they checked into the Athletes' Village and then stayed elsewhere. This time, partly due to pandemic protocols, they were able to "sink their teeth" into village life. In 2018, teammates Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani competed in both segments of the team event while they watched from the team box. This time they would perform the rhythm dance while teammates Madison Chock and Evan Bates took the baton for the free dance.
 
And they would go to the Opening Ceremony, staying the whole time unlike four years earlier when they had to leave early and missed the cauldron lighting. 
 
What didn't change was their ability to convey their intense connection and unmistakable chemistry to their audience.

"Their performances feel like you're watching them behind closed doors, an incredibly personal authentic moment," said NBC skating commentator Johnny Weir.
 
After they finished their free dance in Beijing, performing to "Drowning" by Anna Sila, Hubbell reached down to pat the ice while Donohue had to get down on a knee for his final touch. 
 
"It's honestly just a moment of appreciation," Donohue said. "You don't get to walk up and shake each judge's hand, especially with COVID. So, it's kind of a moment of taking it in… for us being able to kind of close the chapter and be able to fold everything in."
 
Hubbell wasn't quite finished, though. Before leaving the ice, she took a final turn.
 
"Well, I caught eyes with Marie, and Marie did this," Hubbell said, twirling her fingers. "'Take it in, take it in.' And you know, I do everything Marie tells me to do. We knew that we had to be very focused and in the moment during the performance — that would be sufficient, that would be enough. So at the end, we just were trying to soak in as much as we could of Olympic ice and without any pressure, without anything riding on the line. We just wanted to take a moment to thank the audience, thank each other, the arena.
 
"Not many people get to experience that moment, so it would be a shame to walk away without really appreciating it."
 
But even after Worlds, they won't really be walking away. They plan to move back to the United States and will do shows and work toward building their own schools and becoming coaches.
 
They each have partners off the ice. Hubbell is engaged to Spanish ice dancer Adrian Diaz and planning a June 2023 wedding. Donohue is dating Australian ice dancer Chantelle Kerry and will visit Sydney this June.
 
"We've always dreamed of the possibility of skating with absolute freedom and creativity and we can't wait to explore all the possibilities of what skating can be like with no points system," Hubbell said.
 
"Oh," said Donohue. "Bring that on, please."