Olympic Recap, Day 3: Pairs Long Program

Well, tonight saw an emotional and dramatic conclusion to the Pairs competition. There were thrills, there were spills, cheers and tears. The American pair of Inoue and Baldwin skated fairly well, but they were unable to repeat the impressive throw triple axel they had in their short program. Nevertheless, they finished seventh overall.

The German team of Savchenko and Szolkowy climbed a spot to end in sixth place. Their program was not as technically strong as some of the other competitors, but their use of creative interconnecting moves demonstrated how the new scoring system rewards the strength of overall skating.

The Russian pair of Petrova and Tikhonov turned in an uneven performance. Their side-by-side jumps were off, with several "popped" jumps (doubles or singles performed instead of triples). The skating between moves was also on the weaker side.

The other Russian team and heavy favorites for this year's Olympics, Totmiyanina and Marinin, wound up taking the gold with decisive numbers. Their skate was technically proficient and mostly free from error, but lacked a certain spark. They skated conservatively, and their program simply did not look inspired. It's not uncommon for this to happen to the top skater weighed down by big expectations. And they did skate very well; they deserved to win tonight.

But the biggest story is the trio of performances by the Chinese pairs, who finished second, third, and fourth. In fourth place was Pang and Tong. It really looked like they were enjoying themselves out there, and their choreography and musicality to Phantom of the Opera was a joy to watch. Shen and Zhao captured their second bronze medal in as many Olympics. They turned in a good performance, slightly marred by a handful of small errors. But considering Zhao's recent injury, they skated remarkably well.

The most courageous performance of the night came from Zhang (Dan, f) and Zhang (Hao, m), the silver medalists. They had planned the most technically demanding skate of all the competitors tonight, opening with a throw quad salchow. A throw quad has never been completed in competition, but Zhang and Zhang had been exhibiting a 40-50% success rate on the move in practice. But mere seconds into their long program, disaster struck. Zhang Dan did not complete the necessary rotations in the air and went down hard; she was unable to go on. The music was stopped, and China's team physician assessed Zhang Dan's condition. After a few minutes, Zhang and Zhang elected to finish their program, picking up where they had left off. Zhang Dan bounced back, nailing the next move of the program, a double axel-triple toe loop combination. With the exception of a turnout on their throw triple loop, Zhang and Zhang skated a very nice program.

The crowd responded to their performance with a standing ovation. When the scores came up (a personal best for them) earning the team a silver medal, Zhang Hao lifted Zhang Dan in his arms and waved to the crowd. This team showed remarkable fortitude, persevering where many others would have crumbled -- commentators remarked that this was the exemplar of the Olympic spirit. They may not have won gold tonight, but their skate was more memorable by far.

Americans Hinzmann and Parcham finished 13th, and the North Korean team withdrew prior to the long program. See the full results here.