Charles Allen White Jr. (born October 24, 1987) is an American former competitive ice dancer. With partner Meryl Davis, he is the 2014 Olympic Champion, the 2010 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time (2011, 2013) World champion, five-time Grand Prix Final champion (2009–2013), three-time Four Continents champion (2009, 2011, 2013) and six-time U.S. national champion (2009–2014). They also won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Davis and White teamed up in 1997 and they are currently the longest-lasting dance team in the United States. They are the first American ice dancers to win the World title, as well as the first Americans to win the Olympic title. At the 2006 NHK Trophy, they became the first ice dancing team to receive level fours on all their elements.
Personal life White was born in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, the son of Jacqui and Charlie White Sr. He attended Roeper School in Birmingham, Michigan from nursery school through high school where he played violin in the school string quartet and was involved with the student government. White graduated in 2005. He later enrolled at the University of Michigan, studying political science. He formerly competed as an ice hockey player and helped his team to a state championship. He has asthma.
White lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In 2010, his then-girlfriend, ice dancer Tanith Belbin, retired from competition and moved to Michigan to be with him. Belbin and White became engaged in June 2014, and were married on April 25, 2015. In 2017, their son was born.
Career
Early career White began skating at age five. He originally competed as both a single skater and an ice dancer. As a single skater, he won the bronze medal at the 2004 U.S. Championships on the Novice level, and competed internationally on the junior level. He quit skating singles following the 2005–06 season in order to focus on ice dancing.
He began ice dancing when he was seven at his coach's advice, who hoped it would smooth out White's skating. He was partnered with Meryl Davis in 1997, by Seth Chafetz. In 2009, Davis said: "Charlie and I grew up 10 minutes apart from each other. Our parents are best friends. We've grown together and know each other so well."
In their first season together, Davis/White won the silver medal at the Junior Olympics in the Juvenile division. In 1999-00, they won gold at the Junior Olympics on the intermediate level. In the 2000–01 season, they qualified for the 2001 U.S. Championships, placing 6th as Novices. In 2001-02, they won the silver medal as novices and then moved up to the junior level. In the 2002-03 season, they did not win a medal at either of their two Junior Grand Prix assignments and placed 7th at the 2003 U.S. Championships in their junior debut.
Junior career In the 2003–04 season, Davis/White won their sectional championship and then won the junior silver medal at Nationals. This earned them a trip to the 2004 Junior Worlds, where they placed 13th.
In the 2004–2005 season, Davis/White won two bronze on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series. However, White broke his ankle before Sectionals and so Davis/White were unable to qualify for the 2005 U.S. Championships. Their season ended there.
In the 2005–06 season, Davis/White medaled at both their Junior Grand Prix events and placed second at the Junior Grand Prix Final.Hines, p. 70 They won the junior national title at the 2006 U.S. Championships and then won the bronze medal at the 2006 Junior Worlds. Following that season, Davis aged out of Juniors. They lost some training time after White broke his ankle at a hockey tournament in 2006.
Senior career
Post-competitive career Davis and White continue to perform together in ice shows and White has also worked on television as an ice dancing commentator. On February 23, 2017, they confirmed that they would not return to competition.
Coaching career In 2022, White opened the Michigan Ice Dance Academy with Tanith Belbin White and Greg Zuerlein in Canton, Michigan.
Their current and former teams include: Emily Bratti / Ian Somerville Molly Cesanek / Yehor Yehorov Caroline Green / Michael Parsons Annabelle Morozov / Jeffrey Chen Katarina Wolfkostin / Jeffrey Chen Katarina Wolfkostin / Dimitry Tsarevski
Programs
Competitive highlights
Detailed results (with Meryl Davis)
Dancing with the Stars
On March 4, 2014, White was announced as one of the contestants on the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with professional dancer Sharna Burgess. He competed against Meryl Davis, who was also cast to take part on the 18th season of the show. Despite receiving high scores and praise from the judges week to week, White and Burgess were eliminated during the season's semifinals, finishing in 5th place.
+Charlie White - Dancing with the Stars (season 18) Week Dance Music Judges' scores Total score Result 1 Contemporary "Let Her Go" — Passenger 9 9 9 27 Safe 2 Tango "Addicted to You" — Avicii 9 7 9 25 Safe 3 Jive"Happy" — Pharrell Williams 9 9 9 36 Safe 4 Rumba "Wildest Moments" — Jessie Ware 7 8 9 33 Safe 5 Jazz "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" — Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke 9 10 9 37 Safe 6 Cha-cha-cha "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" — C+C Music Factory 9 9 9 36 Safe 7 Paso doble "Sail" — Awolnation 9 8 9 36 Safe Freestyle(Team dance) "La Copa de la Vida" — Ricky Martin 8 8 9 35 8 Quickstep "My Heart Goes Boom" — Miss Li 10 10 10 40 Safe Contemporary(Celebrity Dance Duel) "Stay with Me" — Sam Smith 9 9 10 38 9 Foxtrot "New York, New York" — Frank Sinatra 10 10 10 40 Eliminated Samba "Mo Money Mo Problems" — The Notorious B.I.G. 9 9 9 30
See also
List of Jewish Olympic medalists
References
External links
1998 Juvenile silver medalists