Alex Shibutani is celebrating International Women’s Day right — by shining a light on his ice dance partner, and sister, Maia.
Today, the 26-year-old Olympic bronze medalist headed to Twitter, honoring Maia.
“@MaiaShibutani is brave, intelligent, and compassionate. Strong, courageous, innovative, and inspiring. She is smart. She is funny. She is kind. She is unstoppable, and she is my sister… Maia deserves to have the same rights and opportunities as me,” he starts.
Alex continues, “@MaiaShibutani and I are equals on the same team. We work together on and off the ice to accomplish our goals. We support and respect each other. I couldn’t do what I do without her.”
If this isn’t sibling goals, we don’t know what is.
Read all of Alex‘s post below:
.@MaiaShibutani and I are equals on the same team. We work together on and off the ice to accomplish our goals. We support and respect each other. I couldn’t do what I do without her. #InternationalWomensDay#IWD2018#HeForShe
I believe in gender equality. It is not just a women’s issue. It’s a human rights' issue and it affects us all. We need to learn from each other, support each other, and grow together. #InternationalWomensDay#IWD2018#HeForShe
The 28-year-old Olympic bronze medalist ran into Shawn inside the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday night (March 4) in Beverly Hills, Calif.
If you missed it, Adam revealed his crush on the “Mercy” hitmaker during his appearance on Ellen last week.
“Here’s the thing. I was sleeping on Shawn Mendes…I just didn’t realize how cute he was,” Adam shared then.
Adam attended the Oscars party with one of his BFFs Mirai Nagasu, as well as fellow bronze medalists, Alex and Maia Shibutani.
Alex and Maia Shibutani play around with their double bronze medals during their appearance on BUILD Series in New York City on Friday afternoon (March 2).
The two ice dancing siblings opened up at the event about how it really feels to skate at the Olympics versus other events.
“Going in, you kind of have that game plan of just acting like this is any other skate,” Maia explains. “Once you are there in the Olympic environment, it’s inevitable that you’re going to feel the pressure.”
“The Olympic rings are everywhere, the audience is going insane…it’s not like any other skating competition.”
Alex adds, “You have the audience, and people watching around the world and that adds to the stakes, and to the excitement.”
Earlier in the week, Maia and Alex also performed their free dance at Rockefeller Center on Today, on Live! with Kelly and Ryan, and also stopped by the Empire State Building.
While not watching the show, the Olympic bronze medalists are working with the dancers — most notably Derek Hough and Jenna Johnson.
But will they ever join the show themselves? Maybe…
“If they wanted us on, I think we would consider it,” Alex shared with EW recently.
Maia adds, “It would be really different to compete against each other.”
“We’ve never had to do that before in a serious way,” Alex says. “It would be interesting and potentially awkward. But it would be really fun. I think we would both take it really seriously.”
TELL JJJ: Would you want Alex and Maia on the show?
The brother and sister ice dance team actually shoot and edit all their own videos, and it was their parents who were the first “vloggers” in the family.
Their parents were documenting their early lives on video, which is the greatest thing, because for Flashback Friday, the ShibSibs uploaded the cutest video ever of Alex meeting Maia for the first time after she was born.
And it turns out that before their free dance, Maia actually pulled up all these old home videos to reflect.
“It was what we needed,” Alex shared on Today earlier this week. “You reflect so much, especially at the Olympic games, and to have that moment was perfect.”
The free skate ended with Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir on top with the gold medal and France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron with silver.
During the free skate, the third USA team — Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who performed a stunning routine to John Lennon‘s “Imagine” — fell during their program. They finished in 12th place.
Congrats to all the medalists!
So proud! No matter what. @AlexShibutani and I just had the best skate of our lives!!!
