Russians settle for bronze in ice dance

Bronze medals in hand, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin made no apologies for the end of Russia's dominance in ice dance.

Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold medal Monday night, only the third time since ice dance became an Olympic sport in 1976 that a Russian or Soviet team has failed to stand atop the podium. Considering what Domnina and Shabalin have endured the last few seasons, however, any spot on the podium was an achievement.

"We skated as well as we could," Domnina said. "Actually, we probably did more than Maxim's condition allowed us to do."

Shabalin, 28, has been skating on creaky, fragile knees the last three years. He had surgery in December 2007 to repair the meniscus in his left knee, but rushed back to the ice so the couple could be ready for the European championships. They won the title, only to have Shabalin re-injure the knee and force them out of the 2008 world championships.

In the spring of 2008, Domnina and Shabalin left Russia to train in Pennsylvania with Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov.

The 1980 Olympic champions have trained a star-studded list of dance teams, including two-time gold medalists Pasha Grishuk and Evgeny Platov, and Domnina and Shabalin hoped the move would make them the next on that list.

They withdrew from the 2009 Europeans after Shabalin fell on his knee during compulsories, but came back to win their first world title last spring.

But the knee was bothersome again this year, and the Russians were forced to sit out the Grand Prix series.

"No medal is worth what we went through," Domnina said. "Maxim deserves a quadruple medal for his courage."

While Domnina and Shabalin refused to use Shabalin's knee as an excuse, it's clear they've lost a step _ especially when compared with the younger Canadians and Americans. The Russians weren't nearly as fast or powerful, and couldn't match their technical difficulty.

They finished with 207.64 points, almost 14 points behind Virtue and Moir and more than eight behind the Americans. Just how big a deficit is that? Think Spain vs. Faeroe Islands in World Cup qualifying.

"We are happy with the bronze medal. It was a long, difficult way for us, and we are happy we did it," Shabalin said. "We gave everything out there on the ice."