Biography

Considered one of the greatest skating pairs of all time, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir spent nearly a decade at the top of their sport to become the most decorated ice dancers in the world. Over more than two decades of extraordinary athletic partnership, Tessa and Scott became the first and only ice dance team to win every major international junior and senior skating competition. At the height of their success between 2008 and 2019 they took home a record-setting five Olympic medals, three World Championships, eight Canadian National Championships and won the Four Continents Championship three times. The pair first skated into the hearts of Canadians at the Olympic Winter Games in 2010, thrilling crowds in Vancouver as they became the youngest athletes and first North Americans to win Olympic Gold in ice dancing. Nearly a decade later Tessa and Scott secured their iconic status with a beguiling Gold medal performance that smashed the world record for overall score in free dance at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

Growing up in London, Ontario, Tessa took to the ice at the age of six after deciding she didn’t want to be the only student in her class who couldn’t skate during a school field trip. Raised in a figure skating family in nearby Ilderton, Ontario, Scott had been skating since he was three years old, coached by his mother Alma and his aunt Carol. First collaborating in 1997 when Tessa was seven years old and Scott was nine, the pair were initially so shy they could barely talk to each other. Building confidence while developing undeniable on-ice chemistry, Tessa and Scott shared a commitment to excellence that continually helped them overcome adversity. The two made enormous sacrifices to hone their craft, embracing success and failure as equal opportunities for growth and turning vulnerability into compelling artistry. Training rigorously to perfect innovative choreography, they pushed boundaries by approaching ice dancing as both creative expression and high performance sport, skating with an emotional sincerity that captivated audiences around the world.

After raising the profile of ice dancing to breathtaking new heights, Tessa and Scott retired from competitive skating in 2019. Since then, Scott has served as head coach and managing director of the Ice Academy of Montreal’s satellite program in London, Ontario. He has also been a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusivity in skating. Tessa completed both an MBA from the Smith School of Business, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Tessa is an executive advisor at Deloitte, where she helps to unlock the potential of the Canadian workforce in the realm of high performance and wellbeing. She also serves on the board for Her Mark, a charity that empowers young girls through the power of sport, and Motionball, an organization that fundraises for Special Olympics athletes.