SALT LAKE CITY ? With their tribute to America as the Land of Liberty, France's Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat narrowly won the Olympic ice dancing gold medal Monday night.
It helped that the couple stayed on their feet throughout the four-minute routine, something two contenders couldn't do.
Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia were second by a 5-4 judging split, followed by world champions Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio.
Peizerat blew kisses to the TV cameras when he saw the final standings, which mirrored the rest of the competition. In all three phases, Anissina-Peizerat were first, the Russians second and Italians third.
In fact, the top eight couples didn't move from the first compulsory dance through the original and free dances.