The figure skaters who put Chinese pairs skating on the map, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, won the Four Continents Championship this past week in Colorado Springs. Great to see them back at full strength after a very challenging 2005-06 Olympic year in which Zhao was rehabilitating a ruptured Achilles tendon almost the entire way to the Olympic free skate. The pair took Olympic bronze in a competition they would certainly have been favored to win had they not lost so much ice time. They’re among China’s best international sports ambassadors - in Turin, they were a joy to watch at every practice session as they fought through it, never forgetting the importance and honor of the Olympic moment.

Figure Skating: Chinese pair wins Four Continents title (Salt Lake Tribune)

Shen and Zhao asked to stay (People’s Daily Online)

China’s top pair to rest (China Daily)