Jewish ice dancer wins gold medal at Sochi Olympics

Team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White win the first Olympics ice dancing gold medal ever for the US.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White, February 17, 2014 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Meryl Davis and Charlie White, February 17, 2014
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the first Olympics ice dancing gold medal ever for the United States.

Davis and White, who is Jewish, finished Monday with a score of 195.52 in Sochi, Russia, to edge the 2010 gold medalists, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada. The Americans took the silver at the Vancouver Games to their training partners and longtime rivals.

On Monday, Davis and White scored a world record 116.63 in the free program, which they danced to music from “Scheherazade,” following up their world mark of 78.89 a day earlier in the short dance.

Davis, 27, and White, 26, both from Royal Oak, Mich., have been paired together since they were about 10 years old.

"We're so excited, we're kind of in shock a little. I'm not sure what we're feeling," a beaming Davis told reporters after improving on their silver medal from four years ago.
"It kind of all came together for us and we're so pleased to be here. We're kind of in disbelief."
White added: "To come away with a gold medal is amazing... And 17 years of hard work was justified."
Reuters contributed to this report.