Valentine's Day at the Sochi Olympics could be an icy one for curling couple Xu Xiaoming of China and his South Korean wife Kim Ji-Sun with the women's teams from the two countries set to clash.
China's Xu Xiaoming watches the stone at the Vancouver Olympic Centre on Feburary 18, 2010
Xu, a member of the Chinese men's team, said China have a good chance of victory in the round-robin tie on February 14 and admits he would be pleased if his compatriots prevailed.
"Through curling we have a lot of interaction with the Chinese female team, so I would be very happy if they won," said 29-year-old Xu.
The couple met through the sport in China in 2007 and married in May last year, but the "stone-crossed" lovers have learned to separate sport from home since they both qualified to compete in Sochi.
"At a personal level this is very difficult, but it is significant for both of us as athletes," Kim said, while Xu revealed the pair had not been practising together or discussing strategies.
The South Korean men's team did not qualify for Sochi so, unlike her husband, Kim, 26, has no loyalty issues.
But she takes a different approach to the question of loyalty.
"Of course I would cheer for the Korean team, because those are my countrymen," she said.
"But I would at the same time be cheering for China because that is my husband. In the end, I would hope for my husband that he would win."