Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir claim Olympic ice dance title

From Sportsbeat staff, in Vancouver

CANADA'S Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir raised the roof on the Pacific Coliseum as they claimed Olympic ice dance gold.

PURE JOY: Scott Moir celebrates after claiming the Olympic ice dance title alongside partner Tessa Virtue (Getty Images)

They are the first Canadians to ever win the title and the first medallists since Tracey Wilson and Robert McCall took bronze in Calgary 22 years ago. It is Canada's fifth gold of the Games and their tenth medal.

Moir and Virtue were second after the compulsory skate, but moved into pole position after their original dance, a fiery flamenco, wowed the judges.

Their free dance - skated to Mahler's Symphony No. 5 - also proved popular and another season's best score was enough to hold off US champions, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, whose equally classy Phantom of the Opera routine secured silver. 

Russian world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin - who led after the compulsories - took bronze while Great Britain's Sinead and John Kerr, considered to be an outside medal chance, were a distant eighth.

"I think I'm gullible because Scott told me we were second and I believed him," joked Virtue.

But Moir laughed off local media comparisons with British ice dance legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

"They lead the way for modern dance. It's very flattering to hear that comparison but I don't think we have that kind of resume yet.

"It's just an amazing feeling to win gold. We had trained hard and we were so ready. To have all that hard work pay off is amazing, especially as we could share our moment with the home crowd."

White and Davis, who train with the Canadian duo, insisted there was no sorrow in silver.

"To share that moment with them was just amazing. It's very emotional that all the hard work has paid off," said White.

"We knew what they are capable of and they certainly delivered. It was an unbelievable competition."

 

IN PICTURES: Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir capture ice dance gold in Pacific Coliseum

AS IT HAPPENS: Follow day 11 of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver