Vancouver -
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have made history, winning Canada's first Olympic gold medal in ice dance.
The couple captured the gold with a stirring free dance performance to Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 5" at the Vancouver Winter Games on Monday.
Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., edged their good friends and training partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the U.S., and reigning world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia.
Virtue and Moir are also the first North Americans to capture ice dance gold.
It's the first figure skating medal for Canada at the Vancouver Games and first Olympic gold since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier shared the pairs title eight years ago in Salt Lake City.
The young Canadians' performance Monday was all the more remarkable considering at this time last year, Virtue and Moir had been off the competitive ice for months. Virtue underwent surgery on both her legs to alleviate chronic pain in her shins, and Moir was forced to train alone, hoisting a sandbag or a hockey stick as a makeshift partner while Virtue stayed home to heal.
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