The ice dance competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics was held at the Torino Palavela in Turin, Italy, from 17 to 20 February, and featured 24 teams from 16 different nations. Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia won the gold medals, while Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States won the silver, and Elena Grushina and Ruslan Honcharov of Ukraine won the bronze.

Background The ice dance event was one of four figure skating competitions contested at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. It was held at the Torino Palavela over three nights: the compulsory dance took place on 17 February, the original dance on 19 February, and the free dance on 20 February. The competition featured 24 teams representing 16 nations. Since ice dance became an Olympic sport in 1976, only twice had a Soviet or Russian team not won the event: in 1984, when Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Great Britain won after performing their Boléro routine, and in 2002, when Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France won despite the controversy in the pairs' event, where the French Federation of Ice Sports had been implicated in collusion with the Figure Skating Federation of Russia to fix the outcomes of the two events.

Coming into the competition, Russians Tatiana Navka / Roman Kostomarov, the reigning world champions, were the clear favorites. Tanith Belbin / Benjamin Agosto, who won silver medals at the last World Championships, aimed to win the first Olympic medals in ice dance for USA since 1976. Belbin was born in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada. In 1998, she moved to the United States and received an immigrant worker visa in 2000. Due to immigration rules at the time, she did not receive a green card until July 2002 and would not have been granted U.S. citizenship until 2007. An amendment was passed which allowed Belbin to be sworn in as an American citizen on 31 December 2005. The amendment was authored by Senator Carl Levin who stated, "This amendment corrects an anomaly in the law that unfairly disadvantaged some people who had begun their naturalization process before 2002. Tanith Belbin began her naturalization process in 2000, but due to changes that were made to the law in 2002, the process has taken significantly longer than it would have if she had filed her paperwork 2 years later."

Required performance elements The ice dance competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics consisted of three segments: the compulsory dance, the original dance, and the free dance. The assigned compulsory dance, the Ravensburger Waltz, was drawn on 1 February 2006. The Ravensburger Waltz was created by West German ice dancers Angelika and Erich Buck and their coach Betty Callaway, and was first performed at the 1973 West German Figure Skating Championships. Couples performed the Ravensburger Waltz on 17 February. All couples performed the same pattern to the same music.

Couples performed their original dances on 19 February. The required rhythm was Latin dance. Couples had to use two or three different rhythms from the following list: cha-cha-cha, rhumba, samba. Couples could also include the mambo, merengue, or salsa, but could only select one rhythm from this group. Lasting 2 minutes 30 seconds ( 10 seconds), the original dance had to include the following elements: two dance lifts, one dance spin, one diagonal step sequence while in hold, and one midline step sequence while not touching, which had to include one set of sequential twizzles.

Couples performed their free dances on 20 February. Lasting 4 minutes ( 10 seconds), the free dance had to include the following elements: four dance lifts; two different step sequences; and either two dance spins and one set of synchronized twizzles, or one dance spin and two different sets of synchronized twizzles.

Judging

Teams competing in ice dance were judged according to the required technical elements of their program (such as choreographic elements), as well as the overall presentation of their program, based on a number of program components. Each technical element in an ice dance performance was assigned a predetermined base point value and scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from –3 to +3 based on the quality of its execution. Each Grade of Execution (GOE) from –3 to +3 was assigned a value as indicated on the Scale of Values. The judging panel's GOE for each element was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (the average after discarding the highest and lowest scores). The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a Total Elements Score. At the same time, the judges evaluated each performance based on the program components and assigned each a score from 0.25 to 10 in 0.25-point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the chart below; the results were added together to generate a total Program Component Score.

+Ice dance program component factoring Component Compulsorydance Originaldance Freedance Skating skills 0.75 0.80 1.25 Performance 0.50 colspan="2" rowspan="3" Interpretation 0.50 Timing 0.75 Transitions/Footwork rowspan="4" 0.80 1.75 Performance/Execution 0.60 1.00 Composition/Choreography 0.60 1.00 Musical interpretation/Timing 1.00 1.00 Deductions were applied for certain violations, such as time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls. The Total Elements Score and Program Component Score were then added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.

Results

Code key

Compulsory dance The compulsory dance was held on 17 February. There were a few surprises during the Compulsory Dance, which saw reigning world champions (undefeated this season) Navka / Kostomarov finishing second to the Italian team of Barbara Fusar-Poli / Maurizio Margaglio. The Italians, who were bronze medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, decided to make a comeback at these Olympic Games and had not competed at any international events since the last Games. They edged the Russians in the technical score and tied them in program components. Bulgaria's Albena Denkova / Maxim Staviski were another surprise finishing in third after the CD, followed by Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil / Patrice Lauzon. Reigning world bronze medalists, Ukrainians Elena Grushina / Ruslan Goncharov, finished in fifth. The biggest surprise was the sixth-place finish of Belbin / Agosto, who were originally seen as the main pair who could really challenge the Russian domination of Navka / Kostomarov. The French team of Isabelle Delobel / Olivier Schoenfelder follow, while another team making a comeback, Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas, who finished third at the 2006 European Championships, sit in eighth. The Israeli team of Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovski found themselves in thirteenth after a fall during a step sequence. The Italian leaders and sixth placed Tanith Belbin / Ben Agosto were separated by just over a point, so the Americans could easily make up that difference.

+Compulsory dance results Team Nation 1 38.78 19.10 19.68 7.75 7.86 7.86 8.070.00 2 38.20 18.52 19.68 8.00 7.61 7.89 8.040.00 3 37.65 18.60 19.05 7.75 7.50 7.64 7.570.00 4 37.44 18.72 18.72 7.43 7.39 7.54 7.680.00 5 37.39 18.12 19.27 7.71 7.57 7.71 7.890.00 6 37.36 18.29 19.07 7.64 7.54 7.64 7.710.00 7 36.44 17.82 18.62 7.46 7.43 7.39 7.500.00 8 35.23 17.13 18.10 7.32 7.11 7.29 7.250.00 9 33.37 17.06 16.31 6.64 6.39 6.46 6.610.00 10 33.20 16.85 16.35 6.57 6.43 6.57 6.610.00 11 31.58 16.01 15.57 6.29 6.11 6.21 6.320.00 12 31.42 16.27 15.15 6.11 5.96 6.11 6.070.00 13 31.07 14.80 17.27 7.07 6.79 6.82 6.931.00 14 30.90 16.18 14.72 5.89 5.71 6.00 6.040.00 15 30.51 15.67 14.84 6.04 5.75 5.96 6.040.00 16 28.59 15.16 13.43 5.46 5.18 5.43 5.430.00 17 27.95 14.71 13.24 5.39 5.14 5.36 5.320.00 18 27.53 14.76 12.77 5.11 5.04 5.14 5.180.00 19 27.53 14.37 13.16 5.36 5.11 5.25 5.360.00 20 27.27 13.84 13.43 5.54 5.14 5.36 5.460.00 21 24.93 13.75 11.18 4.54 4.36 4.46 4.540.00 22 24.28 12.75 11.53 4.71 4.46 4.57 4.710.00 23 23.88 13.00 10.88 4.46 4.14 4.43 4.390.00 24 23.51 12.92 10.59 4.32 4.14 4.21 4.250.00

Original dance In the second portion of the dance competition, mistakes prevailed. Navka / Kostomarov did not seem to be affected by this and gave a solid performance to finish first in this portion and overall. Belbin / Agosto gave a crowd-pleasing performance which was placed second by the judges, putting them just over 1 point behind the Russians overall.

CD leaders Fusar-Poli / Margaglio had a very disappointing skate with Margaglio losing his balance causing both to fall. They finished tenth in the OD, keeping them well out of contention for a gold medal with Navka / Kostomarov almost 10 points ahead of them. At the end of the performance, Fusar-Poli gave her partner a withering glare and broke down in tears in the "kiss and cry" area just offstage. They were seventh overall heading into the free dance.

Grushina / Goncharov were good enough to finish third in the OD and overall, while Delobel / Schoenfelder were right behind. Despite troubles on their combination spin, Denkova / Staviski were able to land in the top five. Chait / Sakhnovski finished sixth in the OD and ninth overall, followed by Dubreuil / Lauzon who received a 2-point deduction for a painful fall that required Lauzon to carry his partner off the ice. Drobiazko / Vanagas also received deductions for a fall and for holding a lift for too long.

+Original dance results Team Nation 1 61.07 30.39 30.68 8.07 7.96 8.11 8.07 8.140.00 2 60.53 30.54 29.99 7.79 7.75 8.00 7.86 8.040.00 3 59.29 29.22 30.07 7.82 7.79 8.07 7.96 7.960.00 4 58.34 28.91 29.43 7.82 7.68 7.68 7.71 7.790.00 5 55.85 26.62 29.23 7.82 7.68 7.54 7.71 7.680.00 6 55.65 28.17 27.48 7.29 7.07 7.29 7.29 7.250.00 7 54.36 27.47 28.89 7.68 7.54 7.39 7.57 7.752.00 8 52.79 28.81 26.98 7.18 7.07 6.93 7.14 7.143.00 9 52.36 26.66 25.70 6.82 6.71 6.82 6.71 6.750.00 10 51.73 24.33 29.40 7.71 7.64 7.61 7.89 7.822.00 11 50.28 26.03 24.25 6.39 6.18 6.43 6.46 6.460.00 12 49.17 26.52 22.65 6.04 5.82 6.00 6.00 5.960.00 13 47.15 25.24 21.91 5.82 5.68 5.89 5.79 5.710.00 14 47.00 24.74 22.26 5.89 5.71 5.89 5.93 5.890.00 15 46.59 25.67 20.92 5.68 5.50 5.54 5.50 5.360.00 16 46.00 25.73 20.27 5.46 5.36 5.29 5.32 5.250.00 17 44.07 24.30 20.77 5.61 5.46 5.29 5.46 5.461.00 18 44.04 23.74 20.30 5.43 5.25 5.36 5.36 5.320.00 19 43.83 23.97 20.86 5.54 5.39 5.57 5.54 5.461.00 20 43.83 24.59 19.24 5.07 4.86 5.18 5.18 5.070.00 21 43.25 21.92 24.33 6.46 6.32 6.29 6.50 6.433.00 22 42.06 23.82 18.24 4.86 4.75 4.82 4.79 4.790.00 23 41.21 24.28 16.93 4.61 4.46 4.50 4.54 4.250.00 24 39.92 23.04 16.88 4.54 4.36 4.57 4.50 4.320.00

Free dance Dubreuil / Lauzon announced they would withdraw from the free dance portion of the competition after Dubreuil's nasty fall on a rotational lift in the original dance, leaving them out of medal contention. Dubreuil had fallen on her right hip during the original dance, leaving her too badly injured to compete effectively.