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Winter Olympics 2018: Canadian figure skaters alter ‘suggestive’ routine

Scott Moir dips Tessa Virtue on the ice during their <i>Moulin Rouge</i>-themed routine.

Scott Moir dips Tessa Virtue on the ice during their Moulin Rouge-themed routine. Photo: Getty

Canadian figure skaters and flag bearers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir changed an ‘edgy’ move in their Ice Dancing routine to perform at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The gold medallists took to the ice on Monday with their Moulin Rouge-themed Free Dance routine, but it featured a pared-down version of a particular lift that wowed crowds at January’s Canadian Skating Nationals.

See the original lift in the video below

The lift, which involves Virtue straddling Moir and effectively placing him in a chokehold with her legs, was labelled “suggestive” and “edgy” by the pair, who revealed it would be changed in an interview with the Toronto Star last week.

“What it came down to actually was that when we slowed it down and looked on the video, it wasn’t aesthetically that beautiful of a position,” Moir told the Toronto Star.

“So we wanted to change it, make it a little bit better.”

But Virtue and Moir weren’t willing to give it up altogether – their new move was more or less the same, but Virtue just lingered for a shorter time when straddling Moir.

The lift was captured by US actress and comedian Leslie Jones, who posted a short clip of it to Twitter and called it “one of my favourite moves”.

The new approach worked – Virtue and Moir helped the Canadian figure skating team to a gold medal on Monday, scoring an impressive 118.10 points to place them in first spot in the ice dance team event, ahead of the USA in second and Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) in third.

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