A Canadian First: Skaters Virtue And Moir Dance Their Way To Olympic Gold

Theirs was a story 13 years in the making, a friendship forged over countless hours of spins and sweat and stumbles.

And when the music stopped Monday, and the crowd rose to its feet at the Pacific Coliseum, Scott Moir wrapped Tessa Virtue in his arms and said two simple words: “Thank you.” The pair captured Canada’s first Olympic ice dance gold medal, snapping a stranglehold of European domination in the event that went back more than three decades. The two did it with an elegant and stirring free dance performance to Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 5,” that left the crowd spellbound and the skaters raising their eyes to the rafters to soak in the moment.

“Well, thank you,” Virtue replied to Moir after the two stepped off the ice. “It’s been 13 years of skating together, what a journey, it’s been so many ups and downs, so many sacrifices.

“We’ve grown up together, we’re best friends, it’s so amazing just to share this together, and I couldn’t ask for anyone better. We’re so lucky to have each other, what a journey.”

Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., finished with 221.57 total points, edging American training partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White and reigning world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia.

The Canadians were rock solid in their Olympic debut. They glided onto the ice, talking quietly to each other, tuning out the crowd, withdrawing until it was only the two of them.

“It can very overwhelming skating in a home Olympic Games here in Vancouver,” Virtue said. “So we tried to think of ourselves in this bubble and stay concentrated and stay focused. So before we went out we just reminded ourselves at how prepared we were and just said, ‘enjoy and just one step at a time, and just be absolutely together.”‘

They certainly succeeded, earning huge marks for their intricate spins and nervy lifts, and thrilling the crowd with their undeniable chemistry. They executed their trademark lift known as the Goose – named after an American skater suggested they call it the Eagle – flawlessly. The lift in which Virtue balances on one knee on Moir’s crouching back, her arms outstretched, before spilling into his arms, is sure to go down as of the most enduring snapshots of skating at these Games.

It was the first figure skating medal for Canada at the Vancouver Games and first Olympic gold since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier shared the pairs title eight years ago in Salt Lake City.

“I am absolutely blown away. Absolutely incredible,” said Skate Canada CEO William Thompson. “They have that special connection that is so rare, it’s so infrequent to see that. And great technical skaters as well. So if you put the two together, it’s phenomenal.”

Moir, ever the comedian, jokingly told Virtue they had won silver when the scores were first announced. She briefly believed him before realizing she’d been had and laughed it off.

Afterwards, Moir shook his legs on the medal podium in excitement. He belted out “O Canada.” Afterward, he jumped into the arms of his brothers Danny and Charlie, who pulled him clear off his feet.

“Oh my God, it’s the exceptional moment we’ve dreamed of,” Moir said. “It’s everything we’ve dreamed of. We couldn’t be happier.

“I guess it’s our Stanley Cup,” added Moir, who played hockey as a kid before he strapped on figure skates. “What a night, what a week for us, we knew talking to Marina (Zoueva, their coach) that we would have to skate three very clean, very good skates to be Olympic champions, but to get out there on the Olympic ice and perform and execute like that, it’s a feeling that I’ve never had.”

Davis and White, skating to “Phantom of the Opera” scored 215.74 for the silver and the Russians scored 207.64 to take the bronze with their performance to “The Double Life of Veronique.”

“Just pride,” White said of sharing the moment with their Canadian friends. “We’re just so proud to be up there on that podium and then to have them standing right next to us. We see them every day, and we both know what each other goes through especially to get to this point and to be able to put such great programs out on the ice. We’re very proud.”

Vanessa Crone of Aurora, Ont., and Paul Paurier of Unionville, Ont., finished 14th with 164.60 points. They received huge cheers from the crowd for their performance to “Nocturne” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“It was amazing, there’s no other words to describe it,” Poirier said. “Just to be here, what you can say is the pinnacle of all sports, it’s just something amazing, we’re just so proud to be here and represent Canada.”

Virtue, 20, and Moir, 22, became partners when she was just seven and he was nine at the urging of Moir’s mom Alma, a figure skating coach. The two stuck together, a rarity in ice dance or pairs, and went on to win a silver medal at the 2008 world championships. They captured bronze at the 2009 world championships last spring in Los Angeles, a monumental accomplishment coming after the two missed most of the season while Virtue recovered from surgery on both her legs to alleviate chronic pain in her shins. While Virtue recovered at home in London, Ont., Moir skated alone at their training base in Canton, Mich., using a sandbag and hockey sticks as his makeshift partner.

“It’s been such a journey and so many people have helped us along the way,” Virtue said. “We were very focused coming in. We knew this program was trained, we knew we were ready and we knew we were confident in that. It was just about skating together and skating in our hearts and enjoying the moment for us and skating for the two of us. We’re so proud to be Canadian and to do it for the nation. This is absolutely Canada’s medal.”

In a discipline long dominated by Russians, Virtue and Moir are the first North Americans to capture Olympic ice dance gold. The two have flourished under the new judging system implemented in 2004 to eradicate the partisan judging that had been a big black mark on figure skating – and ice dancing in particular. They find themselves fortunate to blaze an Olympic ice dance trail that other skaters before them weren’t able to.

The gold medal performance was not completely without Russian influence, however. Virtue and Moir are coached by Russians Zoueva and Igor Shpilband, as are Davis and White.

Shabalin, when asked about North Americans taking the top spots on the podium, prompted laughter from reporters, saying “I think it’s only because a lot of Russian coaches, and sportsman, skaters, moved to North America.”

In a discipline long fraught with controversy and marred by corrupt judging, Canada had won just one ice dance medal since the sport was added to the Olympic program in 1976 – bronze by Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall in 1988 in Calgary.

Canadians Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz were four-time world bronze medal
lists, from 1996 to ’99, but never climbed onto the Olympic podium.

“It used to be you liked somebody, you disliked somebody, or you favoured a certain country over another country, then that’s who would win,” Kraatz told The Canadian Press. “If you were a four-time world champion, well you’re going to win automatically the Olympic Games.”

Russian or Soviet skaters had won all but two Olympic golds – Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Britain in ’84, and Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France in 2002.

Skate Canada officials were gunning for three medals in Vancouver, but Patrick Chan finished fifth in men’s singles while Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison were sixth in pairs.

Reigning world silver medallist Joannie Rochette begins her difficult quest for an Olympic medal Tuesday with the women’s short program, less than three days after her mom Therese died of a heart attack in Vancouver.