Winter Olympics Diary Day 11: Shades of Torvill and Dean as hosts takes gold

Vancouver Diary / Vince Shuley / 23 February 2010 / Leave a comment

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skate to Olympic glory

Vince Shuley reports from Canada where he witnesses an extraordinary figure skating performance as Canada take gold. Meanwhile, a nation rallies as the hosts prepare for their crucial hockey showdown with Germany.

"There was a level of performance tonight not seen since Torvill and Dean skated to Olympic glory in 1984. Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are the youngest Olympic ice dancing champions in history and the first North American pair to receive the gold medal.

I'll confess I've never been the biggest fan of ice dancing. Ballroom dancing on skates in sparkly costumes wouldn't usually be my first choice of what to watch at the Winter Olympics.

But there was a level of performance tonight not seen since Torvill and Dean skated to Olympic glory in 1984. Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are the youngest Olympic ice dancing champions in history and the first North American pair to receive the gold medal. With the second highest score ever seen in this event, Virtue and Moir will go down in history as two of the world's best figure skating the world has ever seen.

Defending world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin settled for the bronze behind Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The Russians will go home from a Winter Olympics with no figure skating gold medals for the first time in 50 years.

In women's hockey the two dominant teams of the tournament, Canada and the US, will face each other in the final. With such high scoring games involving both sides it may actually be an exciting match. The gold medal match is scheduled for Thursday.

The Canadian spirit is strong all over the country on the eve of Team Canada's qualifier against Germany. Roberto Luongo is in the net for Canada on his home turf at Canada Hockey Place. If anyone can work under pressure it's this legendary Vancouver Canucks goaltender.

Best Bet: Men's Hockey - Canada to beat Germany
It's all on the line now. With Luongo in goal the Canadians just need to show the possession and puck control they demonstrated against the USA. The medal of medals is still within reach of Canada.

Tags: Ice Hockey betting, Scott Moir, Tessa Virtue, Vince Shuley, Winter Olympics betting odds, Winter Olympics Diary, Winter Olympics Ice Skating betting