Canada's Virtue/Moir win second Olympic gold in ice dance

PYEONGCHANG - The ending of musical Moulin Rouge is sad, but it is not the case of Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who has danced to the music and beaten strong contenders from France and the United States to claim their second Olympic ice dancing title Tuesday.

The championship marked the Canadian duo, who won gold at Vancouver 2010, the second pair to win two Olympic golds in this event, after Russians Pasha Grishuk and Evgeniy Platov's achievement in 1994 and 1998.

With the fifth Olympic medal in hand, they also broke the record of four medals by the Swede Gillis and Russian Evgeniy Plushenko in figure skating.

After winning the gold in team event, Virtue and Moir continued their strong run in original dance, setting personal best records of 122.40 points in free dance and 206.07 overall to stand on the top of the podium.

Their strong ambition for the championship could be vividly shown in each powerful and steady lift, flowing step sequence and precise synchronized twizzles, making the crowd all on feet at the stands at a packed Gangneung Ice Arena.

"I am thrilled with this competition. That performance was really special and truly memorable. The gold medal is the cherry on the cake," said an excited Virtue.

Commenting on the difference between the two victories in Vancouver and Pyeongchang, Moir said, "Extremely different this time. Obviously, 2010 we were in our own country. Those are moments we will never forget. But eight years later we're completely different people, we're completely different athletes."

"We still love what we do. It's personal this time. It was for each other, we skated with each other in mind the whole way and we skated with our hearts. It's extremely fulfilling," said the 30-year-old Moir.