Figure skater Tessa Virtue reveals she’s expecting her first child
By Charlie Buckley
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TORONTO (CTV Network) — Canadian figure-skating icon Tessa Virtue is expecting her first child, she revealed via social media Tuesday.
The announcement came in a batch of vacation photos with husband and Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly, posted to the three-time Olympic gold-medalist’s Instagram page. Virtue, 35, appears visibly pregnant in some of the photos.
“Some snaps from my favourites folder from a few weeks back,” reads the post’s caption.
The tongue-in-cheek revelation drew excited congratulations from across the country, garnering more than 60,000 likes within the post’s first 24 hours. Comments poured in from followers and well-wishers, as well as a few recognizable names.
Skate Canada congratulated the couple, as did fellow Olympians including U.S. ice dancer Kaitlin Hawayek, Japanese figure skater Yuka Sato and Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak, the country’s all-time most-decorated athlete at the Olympics. Recording artist and actor Nelly Furtado shared a trio of heart emojis.
“The best baby bump pics ever ❤️❤️ huge congrats to you both!!” wrote venture capitalist and television personality Arlene Dickinson.
At least one large brand also took the opportunity to piggyback on the news:
“Did Zoë just get promoted to big sis?” reads a comment from car manufacturer Buick
Canada’s Instagram page, name-dropping the couple’s dog. “Congratulations!! ❤️”
Virtue first revealed her engagement to Rielly in a podcast appearance last January. She and skating partner Scott Moir have been retired from the sport since 2019, but with three gold and two silver medals across three rounds of Winter Olympic Games, they maintain the title of world’s most-decorated figure skaters in history.
Virtue and Moir were appointed to the Order of Canada in 2020, and last year, the two were inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
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