TANITH BELBIN AND BENJAMIN AGOSTO by LOIS ELFMAN T
hroughout their competitive ca- reers, five-time U.S. ice dance champions Tanith Belbin and Ben- jamin Agosto shared their feelings with each other. If either or both
of them were freaking out before taking the ice, talking it through settled their nerves and focused them on the task at hand. Sitting in the hallway before their free dance
at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancou- ver, both admitted they weren’t at all nervous. Tey knew they had worked hard throughout the season — the 12th year of their partnership — setting incremental goals and maximizing their final competitive days. “We felt we had done everything we could,”
Belbin said. “We had accomplished everything we set out to do. Now all we had to do was get out there and skate one more time, really for each other. Tat was the best moment of my entire skating career.” With her work providing skating commen-
tary for icenetwork and Universal Sports, Bel- bin, 30, sees a lot of ice dancing. She is candid
in saying watching video of herself and Agosto, 33, performing, she realizes that in today’s ice dance world they might not be partners, given how close they are in height. As a coach building an ice dance program at the Coyotes Ice Den in Scottsdale, Ariz., Agosto tends to agree. Both are grateful that no such constraints existed in 1998 when Igor Shpilband brought the Canadian-born Belbin to Detroit for a tryout. “Sometimes when everything else is right, it
works out for the best,” Belbin said. “We were doing our tryout and I tripped
and fell,” Agosto said. “I felt so embarrassed about it, but she didn’t make me feel any worse. Ten I told a stupid joke and she laughed at it. I thought, ‘Tis is perfect.’ It just felt natural. We went into the partnership from an organic ap- proach of we wanted to skate together and be as good as we possibly could without putting a lot of conditions on it.” Tere was one huge thing — Belbin’s fam- ily needed to leave their home in Montreal and move to a new country. Her coach had already told them that if Belbin wanted to seriously pur-
sue ice dance, she needed to move to Detroit and work with Shpilband. “Somehow, my parents had faith,” said Bel- bin, who was all of 14 at the time. “I’m not going to say they had faith in my ability to become an Olympic-level athlete necessarily, but they had faith that I could make the right decision for my- self.
“I’m sure they exhaled a heavy sigh when I
told them I wanted to move, but they were com- mitted to whatever decision I made. I don’t know what gave them the confidence in me to follow me on that path, but I’ll never be able to make up to them what they gave to me in that moment.” Belbin and Agosto won the U.S. junior title in 2000. Te following year they debuted in the senior ranks, finishing second and competing at Worlds, feats they repeated in 2002. Suddenly, the reality that Belbin was not a U.S. citizen set in. Tey had never expected to progress so far so fast, so they took it in stride, but stepping aside for the Olympic team photo was a bit sad. Instead of moping, they took it as fresh mo-
tivation. Tey set the goal of showing significant improvement between the U.S. and World cham- pionships. In between, they won the 2002 World Junior title. “It spurred us to work even harder and focus our energy differently,” Agosto said. “Place our aim at a higher level. Raise our bar to train for the Olympic level, not just Junior Grand Prix level. We had to take it to another level.” In 2004, they won their first of five U.S. senior titles. Te following year, they won silver at Worlds, the first World medal for a U.S. ice dance team in 20 years. In 2006 — with Belbin finally a U.S. citizen — their Olympic dream was fulfilled. Teir silver medal was the first Olympic medal in ice dance for the U.S. in 30 years and the first-ever silver. “Tat whole ceremony, I don’t have a mem-
ory of it,” Agosto said. “Maybe it was all the stress and the release of pressure. I remember the whirl- wind media stuff right after that, but I don’t re- member getting the medal.” For some, an Olympic silver medal could be
the end of a career, but Belbin and Agosto were just getting started. Before that memorable, emo- tional free dance in Vancouver, they won three more World medals, several Grand Prix events and a record-tying fifth U.S. title. Te leap of faith also worked out well for
4
Belbin’s parents. In 2005, her father accepted a job transfer to Atlanta. She said that for two peo- ple originally from Newfoundland, the weather in Atlanta is appealing. “My father’s career actually flourished in the
United States,” she said. “He wound up climb- ing the ranks to a fantastic position. He has said had he stayed in Montreal, he doesn’t know if he would have ever had the push to take risks and to wind up in the position he has.” After their retirement from competition,
Belbin and Agosto began to pursue careers be- yond their own skating. For Belbin, it’s been broadcasting. She’d done some nonskating TV work following the 2006 Olympics, and her skat- ing work began at 2010 Worlds. “Te best opportunity my broadcasting
career has offered me is all the diversity in my roles,” she said. “Being able to host, report and
SKATING 9
MATTHEW STOCKMAN GETTY IMAGES
YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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