Belle of the Ballroom

It's Hard to Beat Perfection: Yamaguchi Waltzes Away With 'Stars' Win

As judge Carrie Ann Inaba would put it, it's time to celebrate "girl power!"

Or maybe just to celebrate the best overall dancing in the entire six seasons of ABC's popular reality show "Dancing With the Stars."

Last night, for only the second time in those six seasons, a woman captured the tacky mirror ball trophy when Olympic figure skating medalist Kristi Yamaguchi completed the 10-week competition with yet another dose of dancing perfection.

The American public may love its football heroes, and NFL superstar Jason Taylor might pack a devastating combination of masculinity, charisma and grace, but no amount of fan support or fabulous biceps could eclipse Kristi's runaway talent, a fact hammered home when she nailed another perfect 30 in her final dance, bringing in an unprecedented two-night score of 90. Overall, Kristi had higher scoring totals than any other dancer in the show's history.

Still, it wasn't as if this win was a foregone conclusion. Far from it, on a show that bases 50 percent of the decision on audience opinion.

Both Jason and Kristi -- who survived a scary moment in her last dance, when her heel caught in her skirt, but recovered famously -- came through with perfect performances. And fan favorite Jason's popularity was abundantly obvious last night. Judge Len Goodman went so far as to tell him that "Kristi may be the judges' champion, but you're the people's champion." And the in-house crowd seemed to agree.

But with such an overwhelming advantage in terms of technique and scoring, Kristi and professional partner Mark Ballas danced away with what Jason (partnered with with Edyta Sliwinska) declared a deserved victory. The man was ever graceful to the end.

For her final dance, Kristi chose to reprise the dance that won her her first 30 of the season (until Jason's 30 last night, Kristi was the only dancer this season to get a perfect score). Jason opted to repeat a quickstep that gave him his first, and only, win over Kristi in Week 7 of the competition.

Just 15 minutes into the two-hour finale, the "bromance" between Jason and third finalist Cristi¿n de la Fuente -- who became close buddies during the competition -- was officially splintered with the elimination of Cristi¿n. A long shot at the beginning of the season, Cristi¿n was clearly the most improved dancer. Hey, how could he not be? He ruptured a tendon in his arm in Week 7, yet continued to dance (he's having surgery on the arm Friday). With that back story, and his Latin charm, he came into the final three perhaps the underdog, but by no means counted out.

The 36-year-old Kristi, who won her Olympic gold in 1992, came in with the best first dance in competition history, but some show critics and fans resented the perceived advantage that her skating talent gave her. That, combined with what Inaba would blatantly call some fan favoritism for the men in the past, left several female former competitors pulling for Kristi, the only female champion since controversial Season 1 victor Kelly Monaco.