China Continues Its Surge in Pairs Figure Skating and Earns Olympic Gold

Pairs teams closed out the dramatic and controversial figure skating competition at the Beijing Olympics on Feb. 19. Sixteen teams took to the ice, and for the second time, China earned gold.

The win represents a huge boost for the Chinese pairs skating program, which has been building over the past two decades to challenge Russian dominance in the discipline. The Chinese pair of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the reigning Olympic silver medalists, skated a nearly flawless program to edge past three Russian teams for gold.

Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of the Russian Olympic …