The "Curl Girls" were eliminated from medal contention.

Bode Miller couldn't stop messing stuff up on the slopes.

Tanith Belbin

The U.S. men's hockey team lost two straight games to two countries many people probably couldn't locate on a map.

The U.S. women's hockey team was upset by Sweden and had to settle for bronze.

Lindsey Jacobellis showboated, then lost gold in a cool, new event called snowboardcross.

Things were going rather horribly for Americans over there in Turin (Torino, for the locals).

I was starting to lose interest and turned on something else (it was Back to the Future Part II on the USA Network or something).

Then, something magical happened (nope, it wasn't the two-man luge). It was Sunday, and it occurred shortly after Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500. That was when I discovered the absolutely delightful Tanith Belbin, a Canadian-born figure skater who, sorta like Pamela Anderson, now competes for the U.S.

Tanith Belbin with Ben Agosto

Suddenly, I'm not afraid to admit that I am a bit intrigued by ice dancing.

I think it's because Sunday night's original dance competition turned into something like NASCAR on ice, except with skates instead of tires and women instead of restrictor plates.

(What's "original dance," you ask? It was mainly salsa on ice, sorta salacious and something NBC should have given a NC-17 rating.)

A total of five couples or so fell during the course of the skating festivities.

(Here's where working in sports and knowing the outcome of tape-delayed sporting events can be a bit fun ... watching this all transpire on television Sunday night, and knowing of the impending doom, was delicious. Of course, we sports workers weren't the only ones privy to such knowledge. People logging onto foxsports/olympics@Internets.com could have learned of the evening's televised fun ahead of time, too!).

Not Tanith. Just a random photo of a figure skater (Sinead Kerr of Great Britain) with a lower back tattoo

All these falls opened the door for Tanith and her skating partner, some fella named Ben Agosto or something like that. The American/former Canadian duo vaulted into second place behind a Russian couple many predicted would win.

On Monday, the ice dancing competition concluded with the free dance and our favorite former Canadian had a silver medal.

It's been 30 years since the U.S. won a medal in ice dancing (we think it was Peggy Fleming and Scott Hamilton who teamed up for that one. Err ... it was actually Colleen O'Connor and Jim Millns, who we've never heard of), and it took a former Canadian to get it done.

Thank goodness Tanith is on our side! Hope you enjoyed the photos.

-- JIM REINEKING