Engaged softball players competed for Olympic medals on the same day, and gave each other pep talks before their games

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Engaged softball players competed for Olympic medals on the same day, and gave each other pep talks before their games
via Amanda Chidester on Instagram
  • Amanda Chidester of Team USA and Anissa Urtez of Mexico competed for Olympic medals on Tuesday.
  • The two softball players are engaged and are set to be married later next year.
  • They played each other earlier in the tournament, but gave eachother pep talks on Tuesday.
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Amanda Chidester and Anissa Urtez may represent two different countries on the softball field, but off the field, they are united by a bond that transcends nationality, even at the Olympics.

Chidester of Team USA and Urtez of Mexico are one of the Tokyo Olympics' power couples. The two softball players have been engaged since November 2020 and are set to be married later next year.

But before the two are united in holy matrimony, they set out to be Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together and bring medals to their respective countries.

The two made Olympic history by becoming the first engaged or married couple to compete against each other in a non-equestrian sport in the history of the Games when the USA defeated Mexico 2-0 in the third game of the Olympic softball tournament on Saturday.

Chidester commemorated their feat with a touching Instagram post on Sunday.

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A post shared by Amanda Chidester (@chiddy3)

"We know that our life together has its own identity, and win or lose, nothing will change that," Chidester wrote. "While we do step on the field as opponents, we step off as fiancées. I'm proud of what Anissa has accomplished in her career and I'm excited to compete against her on the biggest stage."

"Even though I'm rooting for my team to win and she's rooting for hers, at the end of the day our support for each other is unconditional," she added.

The two then made it to the doorstep of fulfilling their missions to bring medals home on Tuesday, as Chidester played in the gold medal game for Team USA against Japan, and Urtez played in the bronze medal game for Mexico against Canada.

The two even made it a priority to offer some pre-game words of affirmation, as they gave eachother pep talks before their games in the in the athlete dining hall on Tuesday morning, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.

"We were just going back and forth on kind of staying calm and staying in the game and just keeping it simple," Chidester told Bolch. "It's just another game; we've played these teams before."

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Both the USA and Mexico lost to their respective opponents, but Chidester did help bring a silver medal to the USA.

Now, the two will look ahead to their wedding and potential future competition against eachother that will certainly have some heightened stakes once the honeymoon phase is over.

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