Two time Olympic gold medalist Michelle Kwan has just added to her collection of precious metals — a beautiful diamond ring courtesy of her partner of more than year Clay Pell.
The 32-year-old figure skater has revealed that she said yes to Pell, 30, when he got down on bended knee on Sept. 3 at Block Island, a place off the coast of their hometown in Rhode Island.
While — as an Olympian — much is known about Kwan, Pell is a bit more of a mystery.
So why is the groom-to-be so mysterious? Read on to find out.
1. He worked for the CIA and now works for the White House.
Despite only being 30, Pell has served America in many different ways, including working in the Central Intelligence Agency. But, of course, what he exactly did for the secretive organization is, well, a secert. Now, Pell works for the White House as the Director for Strategic Planning for the National Security Council.
2. Pell is a man in uniform.
Kwan’s fiance is a JAG — a lawyer who prosecutes crimes for the U.S. Marine Corps – and Lieutenant in the United States Coast Guard.
3. Pell is studious.
Pell has gone to not one but three universities! He has attended Harvard University and Georgetown University Law Center in the U.S. and also did a stint at Peking University in China.
4. Get excited Kwan, your new fiance can say “I Love You” in four different languages.
Proving he is a man of the world, Pell speaks four different languages fluently. In addition to English, the Coast Guard Lieutenant speaks Chinese, Spanish and Arabic.
5. Pell is politically connected.
Not only does Pell work in the White House, he also comes from a political family. His grandfather is the late Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell.
It was Pell and Kwan’s shared love of public service — as the latter was appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports — which bought them together.
“It was amazing from the very beginning how in sync our way of thinking is, our basic values and our sense of priorities. We just both got each other,” Pell told People, when the couple announced their engagement.
“We had been talking for a while about how we would like to have a family and the idea of getting married and what we wanted to do with our lives – and public service. So I think we both knew where we were relationship-wise and where we were going.”
Likewise, Kwan echoed the sentiments.
“It was a simple decision and it made sense, that’s what’s so exciting to me,” she said.
“We are working together as a team, like in [pair skating].”
