GABRIELLA PAPADAKIS

Olympic ice dance champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron shattered their own rhythm dance world record on Friday to take the lead over two American teams at the world championships in Montpellier, France.

The Olympic figure skating program at the Beijing Games probably won't be remembered for the soaring performances of American gold medalist Nathan Chen, French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron or the Chinese pairs team of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong.

The biggest questions at the Beijing Olympics hardly centered on who would win the six gold medals up for grabs.

Six-time U.S. champion Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou are headed back to the Olympics, joined by longtime fan favorite Jason Brown on a strong and deep American contingent for next months’ Beijing Games.