Totmianina/Marinin or Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze for gold in Torino?

Question

After the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze had mentioned that they may have wanted to compete again in the Torino games. (Who can blame after that scandal?) However they decided against it, and we all know that Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin won a solid gold in Torino with two beautiful performances. If Elena and Anton had competed in Torino do you think they could have defeated Tatiana and Max? Or would Tatiana and Max still have come away with the gold medal? Elena and Anton are absolutely wonderful and beautiful skaters, but they would have been out of true competition for so long, I think Tatiana and Max would have still won. But I am just curious to find out what other people think.

Answer 1

I have to go with Tatiana and Max. Tatiana is just so much stronger than Elena. She is so much more consistent. Elena falls out of throws and two-foots them a lot. And Tatiana's positions on the lifts are much prettier and she is so much more flexible. Though Anton and Elena can be much more artistic (Tatiana and Max are definitely better than they used to be). And Elena and Anton have some extemely difficult and unique moves, I still think overall Tatiana and Max are the stronger team right now.

Answer 2

Elena & Anton being out of true competition for so long would have no bearing. They would train and be in top shape. Another thing to consider is this - in 2002 scoring was based on the 6.0 system vs. in 2006 it was COP.
Led by coach Tamara Moskvina, I have no doubt that Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze would have won the gold in 2006.

Answer 3

I think Sale and Pelletier would have defeated both Russian pairs if all had competed.

If only allowed to choose between the pairs you mentioned, I would choose Elena and Anton.