Evan Chock and Madison Bates: Delayed Medal Ceremony Feels Like ‘Second Honeymoon’

Madison Chock and Evan Bates became Olympic champions as boyfriend and girlfriend. But now, they’re finally getting their hardware as husband and wife.

The ice dancers had been dating for over five years when they competed in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. The U.S. figure skating team initially finished in second place during those Olympics. But after it was determined that Russian skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for the banned substance Trimetazidine, an investigation was launched calling the country’s gold into question.

During the two-and-a-half years that followed, Chock, 32, and Bates, 35, got engaged and, earlier this summer, married.

On Aug. 7, they were finally presented with their medals — now adjusted to gold as Valieva received a four-year ban from the sport — during a ceremony in Paris during the 2024 Summer Games.

“We’ve been skating together for 13 years now,” Bates tells PEOPLE on Aug. 7 at Team USA house in Paris. “We’ve known each other for 18 years. This is my best friend, my partner on the ice and off the ice. And growing up, this is what every figure skater dreams of, is winning an Olympic gold medal.”

He adds, “And to do it for Team USA makes it extra special.”

Chock and Bates, as well as their American teammates Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Karen Chen, Alexa Knierim, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue — were presented their gold medals alongside the members of Team Japan, who received their silver medals, on Aug. 7. The ceremony was held with a backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.

“Our team was so bonded and so connected throughout the whole thing that when we all got reconnected in Paris, it was just so fun,” says Bates.

The pair tells PEOPLE that this Paris trip is “definitely a second honeymoon, which was a bonus that we weren’t expecting.”

PEOPLE had the exclusive when Bates and Chock tied the knot in a romantic seaside wedding in Hawaii on Thursday, June 20.

“We got married on Oahu in June, and it was absolutely picture perfect,” Bates reflects now.

Jokes Chock of their new married gold medalists status: “It’s unbelievable. Mr. And Mrs. Gold Medal.”

Source: PEOPLE