On the men’s side, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir were fourth and fifth, and both plan to compete through Vancouver. While both showed flashes of being world contenders — Weir was second after the short program and Lysacek was third in the free skate — they still need work. Neither even tried a quadruple jump in the free skate, and Lysacek fell on his in the short program.

Then again, the quad wasn’t nearly as popular as in years past. Only nine of the 24 men tried quads in the free skate, and only five landed them. Nobody landed two. That’s in sharp contrast to Salt Lake City, where Tim Goebel won the bronze medal after doing three quads, two in combination, and gold medalist Alexei Yagudin did two quads.

“I’ll be back in four years,” Weir said. “Hopefully, for a medal.”

None of the U.S. pairs teams was close to a medal, and that’s not likely to change in the next four years. There are some good American pairs in juniors, but there’s no guarantee they’ll stay together for the next four years.

Belbin and Agosto have taken U.S. ice dancing from being the butt of jokes to the Olympic podium. And with gold medalists Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov retiring, the Americans will be the couple to beat as long as they keep skating and stay healthy.

Slide show   Short and sweet See images of U.S. women's figure skaters Sasha Cohen, Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes from Tuesday's short program.

The other Americans, Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, and Jamie Silverstein and Ryan O’Meara, aren’t close to contending, but all plan to stay around for four years. And don’t forget Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin, the junior world champions who missed out on Turin.

“I know for a fact it will not take another 30 years,” Belbin said emphatically. “Anyone who was fortunate to witness our U.S. nationals, you would be so impressed with the level of ice dancing in the United States. I think it will be less time for more medals for the U.S.”

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