Tanith Belbin is a famous American figure skater

Tanith Belbin is a famous American and Canadian figure skater. She has dual citizenship, but she represented the United States on the international scene. She performed on the ice with Benjamin Agosto. The couple repeatedly won in the championships of the country and the world. Belbin and Agosto retired in 2010. In this article, we will describe a brief biography of a talented figure skater.

Carier start

Tanith Belbin was born in Kingston (Canada) in 1984, but grew up in the city of Kirkland. Before moving to Pennsylvania Aston, the girl trained for many years in Canton (Michigan).

The mother of the future figure skater - Michelle - worked as a costume designer. Therefore, Tanit had no problems with the selection of outfits. At the beginning of her career, the girl took part in pair skating and ice dancing. But then I decided to concentrate on the second discipline. The first Belbin coach was Paul Wirtz. Under his leadership, she participated in ice dancing with Liam Daugherty. Did not forget the girl and the pair skating. In this discipline, her partner was Ben Barukko.

International level

In 1998, Tanith Belbin moved from Canada to Detroit. Igor Shpilband (new coach) put the skater in a pair with Benjamin Agosto. The first success of the athletes was a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships. And then the pair won silver at the US Championship. Thus, Benjamin and Tanith automatically qualified for the 2002 Winter Olympics. But Belbin could not go on it. The girl did not have American citizenship.

Turin

Then Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto decided to concentrate on international and national competitions. As a result, the athletes won silver at the world championship and won the US Championship four times. Not indifferent fans of the couple decided to participate in their destiny. They signed a petition asking Belbin to become a US citizen ahead of schedule. Some people believed that speeding up this process is not very fair. Many outstanding foreign athletes of that time were denied early registration of citizenship. But Tanith is very lucky! Thus, the girl got the right to participate in the Olympics-2006. Belbin fully justified the trust placed in her. Together with Agosto, the sportswoman won silver in Turin. This victory of figure skaters was an achievement for the United States. Firstly, the American dancers did not show such a result on the ice. And secondly, the last Olympic award in this discipline, the US received in the distant 1976.

Change of mentor

Soon Agosto and Belbin won the fifth title in the national championship. And then we went to the world championship. There, the pair hit the fourth line due to the fall of Tanith Belbin in the compulsory dance program. In 2008, the skaters decided to leave Igor Shpilband, who coached them almost ten years in a row. The new mentors of Benjamin and Tanit were Gennady Karponosov and Natalia Linichuk.

2008-2009

At the beginning of the season Belbin and Agosto won two silver medals at the Grand Prix stage "Cap of China" and "Skate America". In the original dance, Benjamin injured his back, and the finale had to be abandoned. For the same reason, the pair missed the country's competition. However, Agosto managed to recover to the World Championship. Benjamin and Tanith received silver then. Only one point ahead of them Russian figure skaters Domnina and Shabalin.

2009-2010

The season of the pair began with the victories at the Grand Prix stages. But then Tanit had health problems, and the athletes refused to participate in the finals. National Championship 2010 Agosto and Belbin lost to the younger Charlie White and Meryl Davis. Next, the couple took part in the Vancouver Olympics, where they could take only the 4th place. Then, instead of going to the World Cup, Benjamin and Tanith went on tour with the show "Smackers Stars". After his graduation, the couple announced their retirement.

Personal life

In 2015, there was a significant event - figure skater Charlie White and Tanith Belbin were married. Before the wedding, the heroine of this article met with a young man for six years.