With Friday's skating, Shen and Zhao, who have teamed for 17 years, proved themselves still a golden combination in China.

"It's a surprisingly good score. We are very satisfied with today's performance, though it's not perfect," said Zhao, whose torn Achilles' tendon had cost most of their chances to move further upgrade.

"Our skating today have shown our true level in the right moment and we did catch up with the passionate music," said the 36-year-old. "We are so thankful to the enthusiastic audience here who motivated us a lot."

"This short program has a modern style and can bring out more passion of us," added the wife Shen.

The duo won the first pairs' world title for China in 2002 and then retained it in 2003 before incurring a string of injuries.

Zhao had been suffering from a torn Achilles' tendon which affected them at the Turin Olympics and forced them to pull out of the 2006 worlds.

The very next year, the pair have overcome a dismal 2006 to sweep all before them this season, winning the Cup of China, the NHK Trophy, the Grand Prix final and the Four Continents event.

After lifting the world championships title in Tokyo, Shen and Zhao left the national team.

The two bronze medals in Salt Lake City and Turin Olympic Games,however, can never offset the regret of Olympic title drought for their nearly one-and-a-half decade career. In their words, it's a temporary leave.

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