Russians Beat Tough Challengers for Figure Skating Pairs Titlists

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Russians Beat Tough Challengers for Figure Skating Pairs Titlists

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Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia, the 1998 Olympic silver medalists, beat a warm-up scare to win the figure skating pairs gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games here Monday evening.

Elena/Anton, who led the short program but skated third from last in the last group, eventually preserved a string of Russian Olympic gold medals in the pairs skating that dates back to 1964.

Anton, who was hit on the chest by Jamie Sale of Canada in the pre-race warm-ups, had a shaking landing in his starting double axel. However, "I didn't think at all, I just skated and skated," sadi Anton.

On winning the Olympic gold, "I have (not) yet realized what happened. It might take a while for me to realize it. I would tell you more, but I can't even speak," said Anton.

Skating to the "Meditation" from the opera Thais by Jules Massenet, the Russian pair convinced the panel of judges with their combination of style, grace and technical content.

Reigning world champion Sale and David Pelletier had a near perfect interpretation of the "Love Story" that earned them their international acclaim in the figure skating world in 1999-2000.

However, it was not enough to put them atop the field of 20 pairs, and they had to settled for the silver medal. "We didn't come here to get a gold, we came here to skate our two personal bests and get the audience into it and enjoy it and we did that," said Sale.

"We skated our hearts out tonight, and I'm very emotional right now obviously," she said, "With that bad collision during warmups, my stomach was hurting back. That's the first time I've been in pain or discomfort. We went through it strong and I fought through the end. We skated absolutely perfect."

Chinese Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, the silver medalists in the 2000 World Figure Skating Championships, did attempt an unprecedented quadruple throw salchow but Shen Xue failed to make a solid landing.

Yet, the Chinese skaters are still strong enough to claim the bronze medal as the top three positions remained the same in the short program.

"We are happy because this is the first medal for China in pairs figure skating," said Zhao, "We came here for the gold and we feel kind of sorry that we didn't get it, but we tried our best."

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Chinese Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo Win Figure Skating Pairs Olympic Bronze

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