Kwan and Pell get engaged

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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. figure skating champion Michelle Kwan says she got engaged to Clay Pell last week after they dated for more than a year.

The 30-year-old director for strategic planning on the National Security staff at the White House proposed to Kwan on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, People.com said Wednesday.

"It was a simple decision and it made sense, that's what's so exciting to me," Kwan, 32, told People.com. "We are working together as a team, like in [pair skating]."

"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 said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Kwan, an Olympic medalist, to serve on the Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports last June.