Figure Skating at the 2006 Torino Winter Games:

The favorites were the Russians Tatyana Totmyanina and Maksim Marinin. They had won the last five European titles and were World Champions in 2004-05. But they would be challenged by a new power in ice skating, the Chinese. Since 2002, three different Chinese pairs had been on the podium at the Worlds, led by Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, who won the title in 2002-03. The other Chinese pairs were Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, third at the 2005 Worlds; and Pang Qing and Tong Jian, third at the 2004 Worlds. The short program went to Totmyanina and Marinin, with a narrow lead, 68.64 to 64.72, over Zhang/Zhang. They finished in the same order in the free skate, giving the gold to the Russians and silver to Zhang and Zhang. Zhang Dan had a horrific fall in the free skate, while attempting a quad Salchow, and would mount the victory podium with her leg bandaged and an ice pack on her knee. The other two Chinese pairs, moved up to third and fourth in the free skate, placing third and fourth overall, with Shen and Zhao winning the bronze medal.