By Ryan Bernstein
Representing your country is more than an honor, it is a privilege. With Team USA being a part of the Olympics, they are determined to pick the best of the best for each sport that they compete in. The sport that brings excitement to a specific duo is ice dancing. This duo consists of Eva Pate and Logan Bye who both represent The United States of America. On the ice, they have a connection like no other. When off the ice, the connection continues as they have recently announced their engagement in August of 2022.
Eva and Logan have now been together as a team since June of 2019. They are currently competing for the 2026 Winter Olympics and have high expectations as they already have medaled second place three times in international competitions this season. The couple is currently competing in France making their Grand Prix entrance, which is a sequence of ice dancing competitions arranged and put together by The International Skating Union.
“Our goals for the Olympics would be to have two really nice clean skates that reflect Logan and my four years leading up to the next games,” Eva said. “The Olympic Games are a very difficult competition to get in to because the USA only takes three ice dance teams.”
Competing for your spot in the Olympics means you need to set distractions aside and keep your eyes on the prize. After already being an exciting year for Eva and Logan because of ice dancing competitions, the excitement continued after they became engaged. To make sure they both stay focused, they “keep their home life and skating life two separate things”, Eva said. They like to think of skating as their job and their home as their home.
Eva moved to Michigan after watching the 2014 Olympics and realizing she wants to be a competitive ice dancer. When moving, she knew she had to find a partner to compete in competitions with. She eventually met Logan in Canton, Michigan where they both trained. Eva explained Logan was “kind and nice” the moment she had first met him. Looking down the line, Eva sees both her and Logan staying involved in ice dancing.
“Five years down the line, I see myself probably still skating or coaching for sure,” said Eva. “I really enjoy the sport so I know a part of me will still be a part of it. I keep trying to take every skating season year by year up until the Olympic season. It’s good to have those goals to make the Olympic team, but again it is very difficult to make the team”
After finding much success in their careers so far, this dynamic duo still has a few years to collect and earn more medals and recognition than they already have to help show why they deserve their Olympic shot.
Dreams consist of having mentors and leaders to help show you the way. For Eva, her mentor was one of her first coaches, Janet. She always taught Eva to push her past her limits and to help achieve her goals. Eva mentions how Janet always wanted her to achieve her goals but was “very hard on her”.
Eva learned so much from her coaches and fellow ice dancers. She plans to help young ice dancers follow their dreams the way her and Logan have.
“My advice to athletes going into ice dancing would be to take your time. In ice dancing, usually the team goes to the Olympics at the ages of 25 to 30, so me being 22, I am still on the younger side of the sport. So really take each season one at a time,” Eva Pate says.
Ryan's Journey 