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Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada compete in the free dance portion of the ice dance competition.
Vancouver, British Columbia – Canada renewed its romance with skates on Monday night, as Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won a gold medal for ice dancing by performing a love story of their own to Mahler's "Symphony No. 5."
Canadian ice dancers Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue tell WSJ's Phred Dvorak what's on their iPods and what they've been up to in Vancouver.
Following Sunday's loss to the U.S. in hockey, Canadian fans cheered wildly after a performance from Ms. Virtue and Mr. Moir in which the two completed complicated by-the-book rotational lifts and turns, all while managing to convey an intense emotional connection.
For their interpretation of the music, the judges awarded them 9.7 out of a possible 10 points – the highest of the night. Their final score of 221.57, based on the combination of performances across three nights at the Games, set a new record for ice dancing under its current generation of rules.
"We're proud to have gold in Canada," said Mr. Moir. Asked what he would do with the medal, he said he'd never take it off, joking "I'm probably going to wear it in the shower."
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Their win – the first ever for a North American couple -- ends a European streak of winning gold all of the ten times it has been held at the Olympics. The 2009 world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin took the bronze medal after a dark performance to "The Double Life of Veronique" that contrasted sharply with the Canadian love story.
Russian figure skaters could leave Vancouver without any gold medals, should they not win in women's singles skating on Thursday. South Korea's Kim Yu-Na is heavily favored to win gold in that event.
"I'm sure that everything will be ok with Russian figure skating. It won't go down," said Mr. Shabalin. Later, he added, "I think we have to take all the Russian coaches back to Russia."
Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White won silver at the ice dancing on Monday, skating to "Phantom of the Opera." They took a one-point deduction from the judges for a lift that lasted longer than the sport's 6-second limit. That's possible when you're "in the moment," and having a good time, said Ms. Davis.
The night's results also marked a victory for younger skaters, including both the Canadians and Americans, who have grown up skating under the sport's new judging system. It assigns points for completing specific elements to a performance, and gives preference to choreography that clearly shows off those elements.
"I really do love this new system in ice dance, and how much more credibility it has given our sport," said Mr. Moir. "I feel like you get rewarded for exactly what you do and if you don't like your marks, you can see it there on a piece of paper and go home and improve on that."
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