Maia and Alex Shibutani
Olympic Spirit Award; Olympic Ice Dancers
Maia and Alex Shibutani have broken barriers and inspired athletes, Asian Americans and young adults worldwide as elite athletes and pop-culture tastemakers. After their first Olympics in 2014, the ice-dancing duo won individual and team bronze medals at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. They became the first U.S. sibling ice dancers and first ice-dancing team of Asian descent to win an Olympic medal. Maia and Alex have also won two U.S. National Championships, the Four Continents Championship, and medaled three times at the World Championships. To achieve this success, they innovated and broke the mold in a sport traditionally filled with romantic choreography and music. As Japanese Americans who grew up in Connecticut, Colorado and Michigan, they didn’t have role models who “looked like us in our sport,” Alex says. Rather, they realized young Asian Americans were looking up to them. Affectionately known as the ShibSibs, Maia and Alex have earned a global following off the ice as well, with their inclusive approach to social media, where they engage with fans by sharing their creative journey. They have branched out into acting and professional skating. The ShibSibs also serve as U.S. Sports Envoys to Japan, Korea and Singapore, and have been Athlete Ambassadors of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Right To Play, and the LA 2028 Summer Olympics bid committee.