They're citizens of world

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto look back on last year as a five-ringed roller-coaster ride -- an agonizing ascent, then a headlong rush, with a couple of global medals at the finish.

"The biggest surprise was how fast everything happened," said Agosto, who with his Canadian-born partner will be chasing a fourth straight ice dancing title at the US Figure Skating Championships here this week. "Everything was a blur. It's hard to look back on it with any cohesive memory because it was all so crazy."

Six weeks before the Winter Olympics, when Belbin still was waiting for her accelerated citizenship to come through, they weren't sure they'd ever get to Turin. Then, with some quiet (and controversial) congressional help, she was sworn in on New Year's Eve and everything went fast-forward.

Belbin and Agosto easily defended their national title in St. Louis and made the team. Then, after sitting sixth through the compulsories, they found themselves on the podium with a silver after their rivals slipped and splattered in the most topsy-turvy dance competition in Olympic history.

It was the first US dance medal at the Games in 30 years, and Belbin and Agosto got another a month later with a bronze at the world championships in Calgary. Then they came home and collapsed. "The sheer emotional release of being done with the season," mused Agosto. "Just being finished with the year. It was a huge letdown."

This season, their pulse rates are back to normal, their fates no longer dependent on an act of Congress. "The next three years will be a little easier emotionally and mentally because we've been through so much," said Belbin, "so many ups and downs and turmoil."

Three years take them to the 2010 Games in Vancouver, which was the original destination when she and Agosto teamed up nine years ago and began a swift rise up the ranks. "That was what we looked to as our main goal," Belbin said. "In 2006, not knowing if we were going until the last minute, we weren't going to make it the be-all and end-all."

The Turin silver was a bonus. Now the goal is gold, which also would make history. No American couple ever has won a global dance crown. To do it, Belbin and Agosto know they have to up the ante, both technically and artistically. "This is a time when we have to push the boundaries," he acknowledged.

That's generally been a champion's prerogative in a sport that traditionally resists the new and daring. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean exercised it with their breakthrough "Bolero" routine, which won a string of perfect marks at the 1984 Games in Sarajevo. "I wish I could believe that we have that luxury," said Belbin.

Still, as returning medalists, she and Agosto have the chance to put their imprint on a stagnant sport that is hungry for something bold and fresh. "I think the entire skating community can open its eyes a little more," said Belbin. "I would hate to see us get stuck in an even bigger rut than we already are."

Which is why she and Agosto ended up scrapping their "That's Entertainment" free dance in midseason after it produced lukewarm reactions at the Cup of China, where they were upset by Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin .

"For the first time, it didn't work out the way we thought it would," said Belbin. "We just couldn't find the key to making this work, so we tossed it and started from scratch."

The new theme is from the lighthearted French film "Amelie" . "It's much more lyrical," said Belbin. "It's an entirely different style from what Ben and I typically skate to. It's much more dramatic and emotional. We've created all new lifts and elements and footwork. We haven't repeated a single element from any of our past programs."

Skipping last month's Grand Prix final (Agosto had tweaked his back in practice) gave them a chance to get the new dance ready for prime time. "We took it as a sign," he said. Not that they couldn't win here with a slow waltz. Belbin and Agosto, who led by nearly 5 points after yesterday afternoon's compulsories, are heavy favorites to outpoint fellow Olympians Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov and become the fifth couple to win at least four titles.

Winning the global crown in Tokyo in March will be another matter. But what Belbin and Agosto did in Turin and Calgary last year (after a 2005 world silver in Moscow) already has established American ice dancing firmly on the podium and given the promising juniors reason to dream.

"It definitely does prove it's possible," said Agosto. "Maybe it gives them a little bit of hope and inspires them to work even harder and make it happen for them."