The impending marriage of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is a rare — but not unprecedented — merger between two bold-faced names who have reached the pinnacle of their fields.
Swift is the biggest pop star in the world, coming off the biggest concert tour ever. Kelce, a Kansas City Chiefs tight end, is a three-time Super Bowl champion.
Here is a look at some other athletes whose significant others matched or even eclipsed their fame.
A nine-time World Series champion and three-time Most Valuable Player, DiMaggio was already retired when he was set up with the actor and pinup model. Private by nature, he struggled to accept the career that made her an international sex symbol.
After entertaining U.S. troops in South Korea on their honeymoon, Monroe told her husband, “Joe, you never heard such cheering.”
"Yes,” DiMaggio responded. “I have.”
His jealousy peaked after Monroe’s iconic subway grate film shoot attracted thousands of gawkers. The marriage lasted only nine months.
Brady, who also has a son with actor Bridget Moynahan, was on his way to becoming the most successful quarterback in NFL history. Bündchen, who’d broken things off with Leonardo DiCaprio, was the top supermodel and one of the wealthiest and most influential women in the world.
Bündchen was overheard defending Brady after a Super Bowl loss, saying, “My husband cannot throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time.” But things got rocky when Brady kept extending his career — playing until he was 45 years old — and Bündchen wanted him home.
“I have my concerns,” she told Elle magazine. “This is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present.”
They divorced in 2022 after 13 years of marriage.
David Beckham has won soccer championships in England, Spain, France and the United States; he was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and knighted by King Charles III.
Victoria Adams, aka Posh Spice and now Victoria Beckham, helped the Spice Girls establish themselves as the bestselling female group of all time. (Her fellow Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell, also coupled up with a sports celeb: Formula 1 executive Christian Horner.)
They married in 1999 and have four children.
Wilson won the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks. Ciara won the 2006 Grammy for best short-form music video for “Lose Control.” They began dating in 2015 and announced they would remain celibate until marriage; they tied the knot in 2016 and since then have had three children together.
They also have taken credit for some athlete-musician matchmaking, including Normani and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf and Coco Jones and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.
A prolific TV and film actor who starred in 2000’s “Love & Basketball,” Union found love in basketball when she married Miami Heat Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade in 2014. Wade has one child with Union and three from previous relationships, including a transgender daughter, Zaya; Wade and Union have been vocal in their support for LGBTQ+ rights, saying concern for their daughter was one reason why they left Florida.
Wambach helped the United States win two Olympic soccer gold medals and the 2015 World Cup. Her wife, Glennon Doyle, is the author of the bestseller “Untamed.” They host a podcast together, “We Can Do Hard Things,” with Doyle’s sister.
Swift and Kelce’s engagement follows just a few months after quarterback Josh Allen — whose Buffalo Bills have been one of the Chiefs’ the top rivals – married singer and Oscar-nominated actor Hailee Steinfeld.
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez — A-Rod is a three-time American League MVP whose 696 home runs are fifth-most in baseball history. J.Lo is a singer, dancer, actor and businesswoman and the first woman to have a No. 1 album and the No. 1 film in the same week. They dated for four years, postponed their wedding because of the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately called it quits.
Gerard Piqué and Shakira — The two met when he appeared in the video for her song promoting the 2010 World Cup, where he helped Spain to the title — one of 37 trophies he won in his career. Shakira is a four-time Grammy winner and one of the most-decorated female Latin artists ever. They split after 11 years and two sons, and she took out her anger on him with the 2023 chart-topper “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” which won two Latin Grammys.
Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias — Kournikova never won a singles title on the tennis tour, but her looks helped make her one of the most popular athletes in the world. She dated NHL players Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure, who also are Russian, but has been with the King of Latin Pop since they met when she appeared in the music video for his 2001 song “Escape.” They have three children together.
FILE - Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift kiss after the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Jan. 26, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
This photo combination shows from top left, Joe DiMaggio with Marilyn Monroe, Jan. 14, 1954, in San Francisco, Giselle Bundchen and Tom Brady, in Boston, April 20, 2012, David Beckham and Victoria Beckham in central London, Dec. 10, 2018, Josh Allen and Hailee Steinfeld, Feb. 6, 2025, in New Orleans, Russell Wilson and Ciara, March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, Calif., Alex Rodriguez, and Jennifer Lopez in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 24, 2019, Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias in Miami, May 8, 2006, Glennon Doyle, and Abby Wambach, Jan. 25, 2025, in Park City, Utah, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, Sept. 11, 2021, in Springfield, Mass., Shakira and Gerard Pique in Barcelona, Spain, March 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, Joel C Ryan, Gerald Herbert, Evan Agostini, J.Pat Carter, Chris Pizzello, Jessica Hill, Manu Fernandez)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
