Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin didn't want to leave the ice. The new Olympic champions skated a slow lap as Never Can Say Goodbye played in the background.
But after winning the Turin Games pairs title, extending a Russian streak dating back to 1964, "Tot and Max" are doing just that.
After the talented pair finished their winning routine in Monday's final, Marinin knelt in front of Totmianina and gently kissed her hand.
PHOTO: AFP
"It was appreciation of Tatiana for what she did for me," Marinin said. "It was a public appreciation."
Totmianina made numerous comebacks to preserve the partnership, vowing the Turin Olympics would be their last in competition.
She had a horrifying fall in October 2004 in Pittsburgh and was knocked unconscious, spending two days in a hospital.
In December, she was again hospitalized with a stomach ailment, but the pair still won the European title for the fifth time.
"It was a long, long way and it wasn't the easiest way. I'm just thrilled with everything," Totmianina said. "We've done so well."
A Russian or Soviet pair has won the gold medal every year since 1964, and this one was as good as any.
The streak started with the Protopopovs, continued with Irina Rodnina winning three golds with two partners and even their coach, Oleg Vasiliev, who won in 1984 with Elena Valova.
"[This gold medal] is not comparable," Vasiliev said.
"This made me realize that this is hard work and how difficult it was this past five years to get over there," Vasiliev said.
And so "Tot and Max" leave the scene and open the possibility of a Chinese sweep at the world championships in a month at Calgary. The Chinese finished 2-3-4.
Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao recovered from a dramatic spill to take silver, and Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo were third and Pang Qing and Tong Jian were fourth.
Shen and Zhao's first competition of the season was better than anyone could have predicted.
Zhao recovered incredibly fast from an August torn Achilles' tendon.
On both of their throws, a triple salchow and a triple loop, she soared much higher than the boards, and their flying triple twist was immense.
This was the first Olympic pairs event since the 2002 Salt Lake City scandal that led to the new code of points system. Then, a French judge admitted after the pairs competition that she'd been "pressured" to put Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze ahead of Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
The scandal so rocked the Olympics that the International Olympic Committee took the rare step of awarding duplicate golds to Sale and Pelletier.
The International Skating Union then decided to scrap its 6.0 scale for a more objective points-based system that rewards difficulty and innovation.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS