TURIN, Italy — The greatest dynasty in Olympic sports has two new members.

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin finished their careers in grand fashion Monday night, winning the gold medal in pairs figure skating and extending Russia's four-decade dominance of the event. Best of all, they did it convincingly, leaving no room for argument or scandal.

They scored a whopping 14.75 points more than China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, a rout of Olympic proportions. Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China won their second straight bronze medal.

"It was a long, long way and it wasn't the easiest way. I'm just thrilled with everything," Totmianina said. "We did everything that we can do, we skated clean and got the gold medal."

Move over Gordeeva and Grinkov, Protopopovs and Artur Dmitriev.

Like the Austrians in skiing, Cubans in baseball and Americans in basketball, the Russians and the Soviets before them have owned pairs skating. At every Olympics dating back to 1964, a Russian or Soviet couple has stood atop the medals podium.

They have a similar — though not unbroken — run at the world championships, where "Tot and Max" have won the last two titles.

"I was ready to cry and they were almost crying," said Oleg Vasiliev, their coach and a fellow member of the Soviet/Russian machine as the 1984 gold medalist. "Because they skated good, probably as good as they can."

Their graceful routine to "Romeo and Juliet" was reminiscent of the great Soviet pairs, so fluid they seemed to be floating across the ice. Everything was done in perfect unison, from their jumps to the delicate gestures of their hands.

She soared above the ice on their throw jumps, and they made their difficult lifts look easy.

"I have no words to express how great it is to be Olympic champion," Marinin said. "So many people try to be Olympic champion and not so many get to be it."

This was the first Olympic pairs event since the 2002 Salt Lake City scandal that led to the new code of points system. Back then, a French judge admitted after the pairs competition that she had been "pressured" to put Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze ahead of Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

The scandal so rocked the Olympics that the International Olympic Committee took the rare step of awarding duplicate golds to Sale and Pelletier. The International Skating Union then decided to scrap its 6.0 scale for a more objective points-based system.

While the Russians were untouchable, Zhang and Zhang showed incredible courage and stamina.

Skating last, Zhang Dan fell in a split while attempting an unprecedented throw quad salchow and doubled over in pain. They stopped skating as Zhang Hao struggled to help her off the ice.

After a few minutes talking with coaches, she asked to continue. With the fans clapping in support, the referee allowed it.

"We didn't say any words of giving up," he said. "We said we could go on."

Somehow, they nailed every element in the next four minutes.

She again doubled over when they finished and Zhang Hao cried. They had nothing to cry about when they saw the marks that kept them in second place.

"I think it's a very valuable experience for competition," she said. "It's so important for myself because I made a mistake on the first element, but I think I can do all the other elements, so why not keep going?"

Zhao, part of the bronze medal pair, made a remarkable recovery from an August torn Achilles' tendon. He only began doing triple jumps early in February.

With their fans chanting, waving Chinese flags and shaking colorful rattles, the two-time world champs capped their first competition of the season with a spectacular performance.

"If I was not injured last August, we think we could do better," he said. "But one month ago, we were not so sure we could stand on the ice at the Olympics."

China's 2-3-4 finish could indicate a trend in pairs, which the Russians have owned almost across the board. Along with the streak of gold, Russian or Soviet skaters also won seven silvers and one bronze since 1964.

The Americans, meanwhile, will have to wait another four years to end their Olympic medals drought.

U.S. champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, the only couple to hit a throw triple axel in competition — at U.S. nationals and in Saturday's short program — couldn't duplicate the magic. She fell on their signature move, and they also struggled with some spins and their side-by-side triple toe loops.

"I didn't give her quite the throw I gave her in the short program," Baldwin said. "I was more cautious."

Inoue and Baldwin wound up seventh, one spot down from their short program standing but the best full-field international finish for a U.S. pair since the 2002 worlds.

The other Americans Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem had one of their best skates and finished 13th, which is where they were after the short program.