Belbin, Agosto Do The 'Yankee Polka'

Duo Soars in Compulsory Dance

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 10 -- In sweat clothes and sneakers, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto jogged spiritedly around Savvis Center this morning, dodging security officials and other skaters as they warmed up with easy laps in the dimly lit corridors in the arena's underbelly hours before the ice dancing competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The pre-event workout marked the first time in their career together that running in circles did not represent a metaphor for their participation in the sport's Olympic trials. Unlike four years ago, when they finished second at the U.S. championships but could not go to the Olympics, their performance here could mean -- and surely will mean -- a trip to the Olympic Games and a shot at the first U.S. Olympic ice dance medal since 1976.

Just over a week after Belbin, a Canadian native, secured her U.S. citizenship, the newly minted Yankee and her Chicago-born partner soared into first place Tuesday afternoon with a lively compulsory dance to, quite fittingly, a piece called "Yankee Polka." The always exuberant pair, who received 41.57 points for the effort, seemed even more expressive than usual as they took the ice after a fall season marked by an unfortunate injury and the uncertainty of the citizenship effort.

"It's certainly a cloud lifted off of our heads," Belbin said.

Belbin wasn't the only skater sporting a new U.S. passport. The top of the standings, in fact, was loaded with the like. Reigning U.S. silver medal winners Melissa Gregory and Russian native Denis Petukhov, who won his citizenship in February, stood in second place with 35.76 points. World junior champions Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin, also a Russian native who was sworn in Dec. 30, were third with 34.03 points. Matthews, who is from Ashburn, trains there with Zavozin under his mother, a former competitive ice dancer.

All could win places on the U.S. Olympic team. Belbin and Agosto ensured the United States would have three Olympic spots in ice dance for the first time since 1984 by finishing second at the 2005 world championships, the best showing by a U.S. team in 20 years. They are so devoted to their craft they traveled to Mexico after the season and holed up in authentic salsa clubs, determined to perfect the art.

But until Congress passed a piece of legislation Dec. 22 that shortened the waiting period for citizenship for certain aliens with special talents, they and Matthews and Zavozin were caught in red tape that seemed likely to keep them out of another Olympics.

The Olympics "was always there in the back of our minds," Belbin said. "Obviously, we imagined standing on the Olympic podium; that's motivation for every skater . . . but we definitely tried to look past it . . . Now we can visualize and imagine all we want, and focus on that when we go back home for training."

Ever since their first skate together in 1998, when their coach, Igor Shpilband, declared their chemistry the best he had ever seen, they seemed destined for success together. Belbin, who had danced with five partners before arranging the tryout with Agosto, began the naturalization process shortly after the two decided to become a team.

They won their first junior U.S. championships in 2000 and finished second in the 2001 junior world championships before moving up to the senior level competition a year later, finishing 13th. In the fall of 2003, they won Skate America, their first major international senior event. They won the first of two national titles that season.

This year brought about a collision of positive news and unexpected setbacks. As Belbin's longtime quest for citizenship began accelerating, Agosto suffered a groin injury that prevented them from competing in the prestigious International Skating Union Grand Prix final. Then, less than a week after Congress passed the bill containing the citizenship provision, Belbin's 77-year-old grandfather died after a two-year battle with cancer.

Two days after she receiving her citizenship, she attended his funeral. The emotional swings were taxing, Belbin said. She said she had never been more nervous for any competition -- not the U.S. championships or world championships -- than before taking her citizenship exam Dec. 31, for which she was able to prepare by studying a list of 100 possible questions.

The crowd at the Savvis Center seemed to appreciate the bumpy road Belbin and Agosto had taken to get to the start of a championships they are expected to sail through as if it were nothing more than a send-off party to the Olympic Games.

"We really like taking the ice at nationals every year," Belbin said. "But this year in particular we feel like the fans have gone through something with us, something very personal to us . . . . It helps us every time we take the ice."