Olympic romance: When the opponent is the love of your life

Anyone who practices skeleton sport must have a healthy mix of courage and craziness. Rushing headfirst down an icy canal at speeds of up to 145 km/h is not for the faint-hearted. The Olympic women's race took place on Saturday, and the fastest was the German Hannah Neise, who now has a gold medal hanging around her neck. But it's another story that has made the sport of skeleton hit the headlines in recent days.

The reason for this is Nicole Silveira (27) and Kim Meylemans (25), two skeleton pilots who landed in 13th and 18th place on Saturday - and who make a pair outside the ice track. Silveira, who starts for Brazil, loves her competitor Meylemans, who wears the Belgian colors. A very interesting constellation. No enemies in the ice channel However, it is not the case that the two love each other outside the ice track and demonize each other in the race. “People always think we’re competing against each other. But skeleton is a sport in which you race against time. So it's not like we're fighting each other like in a boxing ring. We are not enemies,” assures Meylemans today.com .

Happy in love: Kim Meylemans (left) and Nicole Silveira.

In general, it is the case that we help each other. “We are, so to speak, the only athletes in our nations, so we don’t have a big team behind us. That’s why we help each other,” says Silveira. Bodybuilder, bobsleigh pilot and nurse Both athletes have a special story to tell. Meylemans was born in Germany but competes for Belgium and caused a stir at the start of the Olympics when she teamed up with a tearful video from the Corona quarantine reported. Silveira, on the other hand, was once a bodybuilder, then tried her hand at bobsleigh as a pusher, switched to skeleton for the 2018/19 season and is always employed as a nurse during the summer.

The two have known each other for a long time, but they only made their love public on social media last Christmas. Silveira in particular hesitated for a long time about coming out. “I wasn’t 100 percent sure if I wanted to do that. That's why I thought about it for a long time and finally decided that I would do it. When I posted the post on social networks, a big weight was lifted off my shoulders,” says the Brazilian.

After the Olympic Games, the two of them will have a vacation together. “We have planned a few trips together,” says the loving couple.

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Olympic romance: When the opponent is the love of your life

There are a few lovers at the Olympic Games, the most famous being the ski aces Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. Now, however, another romance is causing a stir.

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