It's happened this way at every Winter Olympics since 1964. Either a Soviet or Russian pair has won the gold. This time, it was Artur Dmitriev and his new partner, Oksana Kazakova, winning with a program that showed remarkable flexibility and precision.
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Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen have proved the United States has a future in pairs figure skating. (AP)
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Still, lurking in the shadows of the foregone conclusion is potentially good news for America. While Todd Sand and Jenni Meno made their Olympic swan song with a disappointing and trouble-filled performance, Jason Dungjen and Kyoko Ina finished a solid fourth.
They are two-time U.S. champions. And at their first Olympics, they didn't seem to be fazed in the least. They skated with poise and great speed. They were relatively clean, if not artistically brilliant. The U.S. judge, in fact, awarded them only a 5.5 for artistry, among the lower scores they received.
What Ina and Dungjen showed Tuesday night at White Ring is that there is an American future in pairs. That future might mean a medal in Salt Lake City in 2002.
OVERTAKING THE RUSSIANS ALTOGETHER is another matter. Entering this competition, Dmitriev and Kazakova were considered even slight underdogs to the other top Russian pair, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. But the same kind of nerves that plagued them in the short program showed up in the free skate -- just when they seemed clear to celebrate a clean, well-executed session.
Berezhnaya fell as she came out of a routine lift that was to close the program. While Dmitriev and Kazakova skated well enough to win without that stumble, the misstep widened the gap between the gold and silver medalists.
There is also a widening gap that showed, for the Americans, it is time to offer a respectful farewell to Meno and Sand, three-time Olympians and classy competitors. After fighting through the better part of a year with injuries, the latest an ankle problem that struck Meno during warmups at U.S. nationals in Philadelphia, the program was rife with problems -- falls by each partner, a triple jump on which Meno pulled back and landed as a single.
Still, they made their Olympic farewell as gracefully as they have been competed for years, first with separate partners in 1992 at Albertville, then as partners in Lillehammer -- where Sand proposed to Meno. Moments before they began their program, they reached for each other's hand and smiled, knowing this was the final Olympic moment for the two.
Kazakova and Dmitriev received one 6.0 for artistic performance, from the Czechoslovakian judge.
IT'S BEEN SAID THE ALBATROSS for the couple is Dmitriev's physical conditioning. Artistry has never been their problem. Dmitriev's capacity to maintain enough strength to skate cleanly has been the issue.
When it counted most, he was able to do so.
"You know, figure skating is a very easy sport. You just skate and jump," Dmitriev said.
The bronze medal went to the German pair, Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer, who celebrated a strong program with repeated hugs on the ice. That had to be a testament to perseverance as much as anything. Steuer has had to contend with pain during the Olympics. His shoulder was so sore on Sunday he came close to missing the short competition.
Winning silver is no small achievement for Berezhnaya. After all, she nearly died two years ago when the skate of her former partner Oleg Shliakov, sliced into her left temple and left her unconscious.
Berezhnaya is glad to be alive. Dmitriev and Kazakova are happy to have found each other as partners.
"Maybe it was something God knows. Because we were skating the same ice,
the same ice rink, for years. But I never saw Oksana (as) my partner.
(Tonight) I told her we are made for competition. We don't have an injury,
we don't have a bad condition. We have everything for skating," Dmitriev
said, "to skate with emotion, for the public and ourselves."
