The Streak is Broken

With Shen & Zhao's win last night, the Soviet/Russian gold streak has ended. I think the Russian dominance in pairs is probably one of the greatest sports dynastys ever. Forty years on top came to an end last night without even a thank you bronze. The highest placing Russian team came in 4th.

Shen & Zhao were brilliant even with some small mistakes. They shone with the brilliance of 18 years of skating together. That's enough sweat equity to cash out into gold.

Pairs Short

Skatehearts

My hubby decided we should go skating on Valentine's Day. What a nice hubby, I'm glad he thought of that while NASCAR had pothole issues in Daytona. ;) I got some extra Junior MITF practice in - as much as one can when weaving in between public ice skaters.

Afterwards, I made my sweetheart dinner and then snuggled into the couch to watch the short program in the pairs event. NBC continued their Valentine's Day sugary coverage of the relationship between the US teams. Denney & Barrett had a nice debut although their side-by-side toe loops were downgraded to doubles after Barrett landed a triple and Denney landed a double. Evora & Ladwig had a gorgeous skate to music from Love, Actually. If only all US pairs skaters could give performances like that all the time.

Most of the medal contenders skated in the final groups and I was dozing off by then. However, I only really needed to see Shen & Zhao skate at the beginning. No one came close to the couple all evening long. As Phil Hersh put it, the event was over in 2 minutes and 40 seconds, the time of their skate. It will be a successful comeback for them if they capture gold tonight.

Sweet Triple Twist with Shen & Zhao 

Hope to stay up tonight for the free and the medals!

Other blogs and items:

• Kelli over at State of the Skate noted all of the performances, music and outfits on NBC last night. She stayed awake! Thanks Kelli!
• Bill Plaschke laments the lack of champion US pairs in the Los Angeles Times

Since skating debuted in the 1908 Summer Olympics, American women have won seven gold medals, American men have won six golds, and the two of them skating together have won squat. We're 0 for 102 years, going winless in 22 pairs competitions and nine ice dancing events.

 

Yeah, we're bad, but we really enjoy watching others who are great!

Skating Pairs on Valentine's Day

The pairs' short program kicks off this evening. This event has been dominated by Russia & the former Soviet Union. Since Torino, there has not been a dominating Russian team. The World Championship podium has included a Russian pair here and there, but the winners have come from China and Germany.

European Championship Pairs Podium

AP

Russian Outlook:
Kavaguti & Smirnoff skated into the European Championship and left with a golden ticket to Vancouver. They represent the artistic, circus-artist side of Russian skating which generally stems from training in St. Petersburg. Mukhortova & Trankov represent the more powerful, athletic Moscow school of skating. This team has had its ups and downs in their relationship, let's hope they can come together competing on a Valentines's Day.

Chinese Outlook:
China has been the most serious threat to Russia's pairs dominance since the turn of the century. They have never claimed gold, but Shen & Zhao have taken the bronze in the past two Olympics. They retired in 2007, but came back for one more try. They also have two other pairs to watch: Pang & Tong and the Zhangs.

German Outlook:
Savchenko & Szolkowy are the two time defending world champions. They've had a wacky season. After a poor showing at Trophee Eric Bompard they changed their free skate to music from Out of Africa which was well received the rest of the season. They bobbled at Europeans however.

Honorable Mentions:
Canada has the home crowd advantage and Dube & Davison have a sweet freeskate to The Way We Were. It will send memories of Sale & Pelletier's Love Story through the crowd. They've medaled at worlds and you can never count out a team with home field advantage.

The US is sending two pairs, Denney & Barrett and Evora & Ladwig. NBC has been trumping the relationship between the two competitive teams, Jeremy Barrett is dating Amanda Evora. I'm sure it's hard to compete on the Olympics against your significant other of Valentine's Day.

Great Posts on Pairs:
Aaron's thoughts: Axels, Loops, and Spins - Pairs Preview
Kelli's thoughts: State of the Skate - Every Four Year Fan's Guide
Susan's thoughts: Lifeskate - Predictions and Start Order
NBC Olympics: Shen/Zhao Search For Pairs Gold