Winter Olympics - Canada's Virtue, Moir win ice dance gold

Reuters - Tue, 23 Feb 05:15:00 2010

Canadian best friends Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir had roaring home fans leaping to their feet after ending 34 years of European domination to win the Olympic ice dance gold medal.

Canada's Virtue and Moir - 0

Virtue and Moir's stirring performance to Mahler's Symphony No. 5 raised the domed roof at the Pacific Coliseum when they were awarded a combined total of 221.57 points to beat Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White by 5.83.

Russian world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin had been tipped as the favourites but after being bumped down to third place in Sunday's original dance, they could not make up ground and had to settle for bronze with 207.64.

"This is the moment we dreamed of. It's everything we dreamed of. We could not be happier," a grinning Moir said as he caressed the shining piece of metal draped around his neck.

"I am going to wear it in the shower, I'm not taking it off all week long."

As soon as they finished their mesmerising routine with Moir down on his knees tenderly cradling Virtue's smiling face in his hands, the 12,000 strong crowd erupted.

"Wow!" declared one banner while another proclaimed "Virtue(ly) Gold".

The judges certainly agreed. Once their score of 110.42 for the free programme flashed up, Moir thumped his chest with both hands and lifted Virtue up as she dug her nails into his back.

Davis and White, who share two coaches and train with the champions, made it a double celebration for North America when they took silver for their dramatic Phantom of the Opera exhibition.

"I think in the last couple of years North America has really come into its own in the ice dance. The direction ice dance is taking has favoured North American teams ... it's really exciting to be part of it," an elated Davis said.

Virtue turned up on Monday looking as if she was dressed for a celebratory night out in town in a sparkling white outfit. She was not wrong.

Over the next four minutes, she and Moir dazzled the audience with a dance full of intrigue and drama.

It almost seemed as if the crowd had gone into a trance as despite the haunting music floating around the arena, everyone could hear the crunching of the ice beneath their blades.

They showed off perfectly synchronised twizzles, intricate spins in which it seemed as if their bodies had melded into one and jaw-dropping lifts - including one in which as Moir was sliding sideways, Virtue climbed on to his right thigh with one foot and he balanced her weight without any hands.

Moments later they, and 34 million fellow citizens, were celebrating Canada's first ever ice dance gold.

"To have that moment with the home crowd and with each other and to have all that hard work pay off, it's amazing," said Moir, who was waving his hands so wildly following the medal ceremony that flowers from his bouquet went flying on the ice.

Virtue, 20, added: "Right now, Vancouver is our favourite place to be. It's been the perfect Games."

Dressed in a cream and maroon laced-up corset, Davis and White had fancied their chances of gliding to the top of the podium and their fast-paced performance left them breathless with emotion.

So draining was their routine that once the music ended, White, on bended knee, held on to the ice for several seconds with one hand, his face buried under a mop of unruly blond hair but they had not quite done enough.

Since the introduction of ice dancing into the Olympics in 1976, Russian or Soviet couples had captured all but two of the gold medals.

Britain's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (1984) and French couple Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat (2002) claimed the other two titles.

Women rarely get the chance to wear the trousers in the traditional world of ice dance but Briton Sinead Kerr turned things topsy turvy with an unusual lift in their free dance to Linkin Park's Krwlng.

Sinead held her brother John by his legs while he was upside down as she glided across the ice in a routine that told the story of a recovering drug addict.

Called a "reverse lift", the move drew some of the biggest cheers of the day, including when it was replayed on the big screens at the Pacific Coliseum.

They have been doing the lift for years in exhibitions but not in competitions because the scoring system does not differentiate between who is doing the lifting, simply awarding marks for the difficulty of the position the lifter is in.

"This year a new rule came in where you could have a free lift, which counts towards choreography so we thought that would be perfect as it's always a crowd-pleaser," Sinead Kerr said.

"I've always been pretty strong anyway so I feel like I'm pretty solid on my feet. John does a lot of the work anyway - he jumps and I catch, it just kind of looks like I'm lifting but I'm not physically lifting him and he is doing nothing."

John added: "It's only really open to the teams where there isn't such a huge size difference, if it's like a little girl and a big man."

They finished eighth, three places behind Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali who ended their routine with a reverse cantilever, where she carried him on her knees, but it did not provoke the same applause as the Britons.

Factbox:

TESSA VIRTUE

Age: 20

Place of birth: London, Canada

Residence: London, Canada

SCOTT MOIR

Age: 22

Place of birth: London, Canada

Residence: Ilderton, Canada

No previous Olympic results:

Career achievements:

Silver, 2008 world championships

Bronze, 2009 world championships

Runner-up, 2009-10 Grand Prix, Overall

Third, 2007-08 Grand Prix, Overall

Background:

Virtue and Moir teamed up in 1997 when Virtue was seven and Moir was aged nine. The two were individually coached by Moir's aunt who paired them together.

They had an impressive 2007-08 season, claiming their first senior Canadian title and a silver medal at the 2008 World Championships, among others victories.

The following season Virtue had surgery on her shins meaning the couple missed the 2008 Grand Prix series. They returned in time to claim bronze at the 2009 world championships.

They train up to 38 hours a week in Canton, Michigan.

Follow the Winter Olympics 24/7 on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin 521) and Eurosport HD (Sky 412). British Eurosport channels are streamed online via the Eurosport Player.

Reuters

Comment 9 - 28 of 28

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  1. I really liked the performance! The music was one of my­ favourite ones.

    From Alla, on Fri 26 Feb 3:51

  2. Loved their performance too:) Difficult, at high speed,­ gracious! Congratulations to Canada :)

    From Natalie, on Thu 25 Feb 23:25

  3. Bravo Tessa and Scott ! You are worthy of this gold­ medal ! I agree with Irina, our couple lost all chances­ to win after their preposterous original dance.

    From Tanya, on Thu 25 Feb 2:55

  4. My congratulations to this beautiful canadian pair and­­ to all canadians!!!! Virtue & Moir were­ wonderful!!­ Original dance of Domnina & Shabalin­ was very poor,­ if it could be named "a­ dance" at all. By the­ way, i am russian and i am­ compelled to admit that our­ couple wasn't the best­ on these Olympic Games.

    From Lorenzo, on Thu 25 Feb 2:38

  5. Well done canadians, very beatiful breathtaking­ performance !!!! Amerincans not far behind them...­ Russians didn't have a great music choice in my­ opinion but had their well deserved bronze...because of­ her mostly - she is brilliant ice skater!

    From Natalia, on Wed 24 Feb 17:08

  6. FANTASIC NIGHT. Now thats competition. NO CTV stupid­ hype needed.
    I was floored with each pair coming out­ and laying down stunning performances. The last 5 were,­ simply put, UNBELIEVABLE and JAW DROPPING.
    The result­ was the icing on the cake.
    The BEST skaters won.

    From d.stone91, on Wed 24 Feb 5:03

  7. Hey Ilona
    You make it sound as if there was no pressure­ on Tessa and Scott! Now, I am European, so I didn't­ get to experience all the hype surrounding them in­ Canada, but I can very well imagine it was HUGE.­ Actually, I bet none of the teams had it easy, it's­ sports for chirssake! Some had to fight nasty injuries,­ some other health problems (like Frederica from Italian­ team, she is allegedly constantly on antibiotics), some­ personal and what not problems. But once you're­ there on ice, nobody cares! Regarding aboriginal dance ­ - I couldn't care less about controversy, the­ point is, it was in bad taste and choreo was a mess.­ They should be happy to have that bronze, because in my­ eyes they were NOT exactly worthy of it.
    But it's­ all irrelevant!!! Virtue and Moir were PERFECT!!! It­ was one of those rare moments when you get to­ experience true magic. When you know this is the type­ of performance that will be remembered for a long, long­ time. Congrats to amazing champions Tessa and Scott!!!!

    From Liene, on Wed 24 Feb 2:14

  8. Helensmith butler,,You have replied to the people who­ do not care that you speak four differnt laungages or­ have a Masters Degree.What they are concerned and­ rightly so is that you are in the normal sense of the­ word,,very foolish..you offended many people who view­ ,read and digested your remarks which were so way off­ beam..Your opinions is based on a lack of understanding­ what the original article was about..I suggest you get­ your Masters Degree and use it to better use than­ just skimming over the article..Perhaps you can use­ accurate comprehension to understand the tone and ­ meaning of English words.OH...by the way I have a­ Masters Degree but with my Degree came a clear­ understanding of both written and spoken­ English..Perhaps your 4 laungages consist of local­ dialects in some South East Asian country..Certainly­ not English..Perhaps this reply to you may bring you­ down from the clouds and into the real world..I­ wonder,?????..Its not a surprise to me that many­ writers have refuted your opinion...You desreved­ it..Masters Degree ,,,Oh ,Oh what a waste ,if in fact­ you have one,!!!!!

    From beau, on Tue 23 Feb 21:59

  9. I do not care European on American. I loved them­ skating. It was the moment I will remember. It is very­ pity though the author did not mention who is teaching­ them to skate so well. The two coaches are Russians­ Marina Zoueva and Igor Shpilbant.

    From Leonid, on Tue 23 Feb 21:54

  10. Europeans (particularly Russians) should be happy­ too....they are all more or less coached by­ Europeans....and the Canadians were brilliant!!!

    From Sani, on Tue 23 Feb 20:24

  11. You have to know that anyone who starts talking about­ how educated they are is bound to be a dumbazz.

    From Morty, on Tue 23 Feb 20:17

  12. Ninja the only thing you can get close enough to root­ is your hand.

    From Morty, on Tue 23 Feb 20:15

  13. They deserved Gold , that's for sure.

    From Baher, on Tue 23 Feb 20:09

  14. helensmith buthead:
    "offense me", "who­ decide who", "Thanks God". Masters­ degree??? In @#$% maybe. Speak 4 languages? ­ Obviously English is not one of them. As an­ "educated" person, you should already know­ that the judges come from all mations, including­ European nations, and the top and bottom scores are­ dropped and the rest added together to give a final­ tally. I would suggest you think before you type,­ less chance of making yourself sound like complete­ jackass. Shame on you...Helen.

    From Elliot Ness, on Tue 23 Feb 19:51

  15. For helensmithbutler , i think you've got it wrong.­ The Olympic games doesn't side with anybody. First­ you wrote something here which offended a few if not­ some of the readers. It doesn't really matter if­ you speak or knows four languages or a hundred, as all­ commentators here are entitled to their own opinions.­ The next time, you better have to deliberate your­ thoughts before writing it down.Besides You Can Not­ dictate other people what to write in response to your­ statements. Better keep your thoughts to yourself as­ You Can't Take It when it backfires......

    From Riza, on Tue 23 Feb 19:48

  16. I have a good rule for myself: never write back to­ comments that will come to you...But today I will brake­ the rule and write here again just to let you know that­ everyone here has his/ her own opinion and can write­ about his/her feelings. So did I. If you don't like­ my comment just mark it as very bad and that's­ it!And don't offense me when you don't know me­ at all!I am a very educated person who knows four­ languages and has a master's degree! Nothing­ personal to canadian figure skaters.And nothing­ personal to the commentators below...

    From helensmithbutler, on Tue 23 Feb 18:59

  17. Yes, Canadians were good but I want to say a few words­ about the pressure on Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim­ Shabalin. First was the scandal with their aborigine­ costumes and then they had to change the music for­ original dance...Just think is it easy to change the­ programme you have prepared for months in a few­ days?I think that the pressure was HUGE and it­ doesn't matter that everyone says everything was­ fair.
    Congratulations to Canada.

    From Ilona, on Tue 23 Feb 18:19

  18. Some of the comments really stagger me.Its not about­ European or North American domination.Its just saying­ in the headline that European countries dominated the­ Gold Medal count..Really the comment by­ ..helensmithbutler..Comment ..1...is completly without­ foundation or indeed is not in the Spirit of the­ Olympic movement.Objective comments are welcome­ ..Baseless or comments that are founded on a countries­ or continent agenda are not..Lets just admire the­ athlets regrdless of where they reside or the continent­ they come from..Its the effort and dedication of ALL­ we should respect and recieve pleasure from..sorry­ helenbutlersmith you really are alone on this­ one..Perhaps you will read the article more carefully­ and correctly interpret the words..

    From beau, on Tue 23 Feb 18:14

  19. Uneducated, paranoid people like helensmithbutler­ (commented below) don't offer any insight other­ than pointing the blame at someone other themselves;­ their xenophobic little selves. I'm a North­ American with British citizenship who firmly believes­ that Eurovision is the perfect example of juding gone­ wrong. The Olympics still stand on their own two­ feet. Get a clue, Scooby Doo.

    From lynndah, on Tue 23 Feb 18:12

  20. Great news but I hadn't seen my recorded DVD­ performances as as yet so now know results - however­ great win for Canada as Hosts and our skaters too - the­ Irish Dance was great. 'Cornish Annie' UK.

    From Ann, on Tue 23 Feb 18:01
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