This married LGBTQ+ couple will be going head-to-head at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Left hand image shows Brazilian skeleton athlete Nicole Rocha (L) Silveira and Belgian skeleton athlete Kim Meylemans (R) (Insta:@kimmeylemans/Laurie Dieffembacq/Getty)
Left hand image shows Brazilian skeleton athlete Nicole Rocha (L) Silveira and Belgian skeleton athlete Kim Meylemans (R) (Insta:@kimmeylemans/Laurie Dieffembacq/Getty)
The 2026 Winter Olympics looks set to play out like Heated Rivalry, as married skeleton sliders Kim Meylemans and Nicole Silveira are going to face off.
Meylemans, representing Belgium, and Silveira, representing Brazil, are two of the highest-ranking athletes in the high-speed winter sport, where an athlete lies face-down and head-first on a small sled, navigating an icy track at speeds of over 90mph.
Ahead of the Olympics, they shared: “It feels extra special to potentially compete as a married couple. Meylemans competed at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. Furthermore, she won gold at both the 2024 and 2026 European Championships
Meanwhile, Silveira finished 13th in 2022, Brazil’s best-ever result in sliding sports at the Winter Olympics. Then, she secured bronze at two of the World Cup stages of the 2024–25 season.
The pair met at the 2019 World Cup and hard-launched with an Instagram post in 2021: a picture of them kissing under mistletoe.
“From the beginning, I wasn’t 100 percent sure that’s who I was and what I wanted. So it took me a while to finally be OK with it, I guess,” Silveira told TODAY in 2022.
“For a moment there, it was me hiding a lot of who I was and hiding Kim essentially from a lot of people and the closest people that I knew.
“It’s very special to be able to share [the] Olympic Games with your partner,” she continued.
“It’s an extremely stressful, high-pressure period, so to have my person there as a comfort and safe space is of immense value to me, and also my performance. It brings a sense of calmness and normality into the [craziest] weeks of our career.”
The two women are carrying forward that supportive energy to the Olympics. Following her World Cup victory earlier this month, Meylemans noted her wife’s support is pivotal.
‘To have my person there as a comfort and safe space is of immense value to me.’
“This team right here is something truly special though and a big part of this success — I wouldn’t have achieved this goal without them, especially my wife,” Meylemans wrote in an Instagram post.
“Don’t think anyone truly understands how much I needed her with me (pushing & supporting me) to achieve this.”
“Proud to be your wife and to walk this walk next to you,” Silveira commented on the post.
The pair married in August 2025, alongside sharing wedding photos online, they posted a defiant message of LGBTQ+ acceptance ahead of the Olympics.
They outlined that they are waiting to have a “big dream beach wedding” later in 2026 because of the Olympic training logistics. But they still had a civil ceremony surrounded by their family.
Their post concluded with the message: “with the Games being in Italy and the current Italian government making decisions/laws that hurt the LGBTQ+ community (read up on it if you don’t believe it), it feels extra special to potentially compete as married couple and shine a light on marriage equality while doing so.”
LGBTQ+ rights are in a precarious position in present-day Italy. The government allows same-sex civil unions but still doesn’t recognise same-sex marriage.
‘It feels extra special to potentially compete as married couple’
In recent years, there have been worries about the Italian government’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ families. However, there have been some positives, including a court rejecting the anti-LGBTQ+ government attempts to erase the names of non-biological lesbian mothers from birth certificates.
Meylemans and Silveira are not alone as a LGBTQ+ couple facing off against each other at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Sweden’s Anna Kjellbin and Finland’s Ronja Savolainen are also set to go head to head.
Swedish star Kjellbin plays defence for the Toronto Sceptres, and Finnish player Savolainen plays defence for the Ottawa Charge.
The pro hockey stars play on different teams in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), so they’re somewhat used to the competition.
In 2024, Savolainen confirmed love does not get in the way of competition, saying of playing against Kjellbin: “I don’t care who’s in front of me … if it’s going to be her, I’m going to hit her. We can take it up after the game.”
She added: “When you play, you just play. You don’t really think about who’s there. You’re friends after. On the ice, she’s my enemy. That’s how it goes.”
