Results and Comments Olympic Pairs
Tonight's Pairs Final was a completely different event than the last one I reported on in Salt Lake City in 2002. Tonight's top three medal winners each overcame serious accidents and proved that while it looks so easy, in the blink of an eye an accident can completely change your life. In the end it all depends on how you deal with it.Gold Medalist, Tatiana Totmianina and Max Marinin of Russia presented a near perfect but cautious performance. Tot and Max over came a disastrous fall during a lift at Skate America over a year ago inwhich Tatiana was seriously injured.
Silver Medalists, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China showed "the spirit lives here" motto is all about. In an attempt to open their program with the first ever quadruple Salchow, Zhang Dan crashed to the ground in a split, landing straight down on her knee and slid into the boards. The shock from the crash was so severe they stopped skating in order to insure Zhang Dan was medically sound to continue skating. After about 5 minutes a restart was allowed, and they picked up the program where they left off. Autopilot took over with Zhang Dan and they finished the program like the elite skaters they are.
And finally, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China captured the Bronze Medal. This happened after earlier this year Zhao Hongbo completely ruptured his Achilles tendon on his landing foot several months ago. Zhao Hongbo had reattachment surgery and just began jumping again 2 weeks before the Olympics. Considering the situation, this exceptionally strong team were able to overcome his injury and skate a wonderful program with the best artistic impression I have ever seen them skate.
For a total recap, read Salt Lake City Pairs Gold Medalists, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier's comments on the NBC site. Pictures and more later.
Final Placements are:
Placement - Name Country - Score
1 - TOTMIANINA Tatiana / MARININ Maxim - RUS - 135.84
2 - ZHANG Dan / ZHANG Hao - CHN - 125.01
3 - SHEN Xue / ZHAO Hongbo - CHN - 124.59
4 - PANG Qing / TONG Jian - CHN - 123.48
5 - SAVCHENKO Aliona / SZOLKOWY Robin - GER - 119.19
6 - PETROVA Maria / TIKHONOV Alexei - RUS 117.42
7 INOUE Rena / BALDWIN John USA 113.74
8 ZAGORSKA Dorota / SIUDEK Mariusz POL 109.85
9 OBERTAS Julia / SLAVNOV Sergei RUS 106.29
10 DUBE Jessica / DAVISON Bryce CAN 104.23
