TURIN, Italy – The Canadians have called ice dancer Tanith Belbin a turncoat for becoming a U.S. citizen.
But Belbin did her new homeland proud on Sunday, when she and partner Ben Agosto performed a clean, spectacular original dance to move from sixth to second place entering Monday’s free dance.
Clattering falls and their aftermaths created a bizarre setting in the jam-packed Palavela.
The U.S. champions’ total score of 97.89 was just 1.38 points behind the first-place team of world champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia. Elena Grushina and Rusian Goncharov of Ukraine are third with 96.68 points.
Belbin could become the first woman to win a medal for the U.S. in something other than snowboarding at the Turin Games. With fan clusters screaming for their favorites, the final group of top competitors provided surprises when three of the group’s five teams had falls.
The most dramatic spill came at the end of the routine by Italians Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio, the 2002 Olympic bronze medalists, who won the compulsory dance and led entering Sunday. On their rotational lift, they went down in a heap, resembling a tackle at a middle school football game. Then Fusar Poli stood fuming and glowering at her partner.
Finally, she begrudgingly skated toward him before giving the crowd a perfunctory wave and exiting the ice. The team, which came out of retirement last year, plunged to 7th place.
“We made it a point not to watch the other teams,” said Belbin, who with Agosto scored a 60.53 in the original dance portion. “But we could hear the reaction. The crowd was very loud.”
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