What is Tanith Belbin?
[[Image:Tanith Belbin.jpg|thumb|right|Belbin at a press conference]] '''Tanith Jessica Louise Belbin''' (born July 11, 1984 in [[Kingston, Ontario]], [[Canada]]) is a [[Canadians|Canadian]]-[[Americans|American]] [[ice dancing|ice dancer]]. She is a [[citizen]] of both Canada and the [[United States]]. Her skating partner is [[Benjamin Agosto]]. Belbin was born in Canada and lived in various places like [[Montreal]] until she was thirteen years old. At the age of thirteen, she moved to the United States to skate with Agosto. They are coached by [[Igor Shpilband]]. He is the one who paired them together. Belbin & Agosto had success immediately on the Junior level. They won a medal of every color at the [[World Junior Figure Skating Championships]] between 2000 and 2002. They qualified to skate for the United States at the [[2002 Winter Olympics]]. However, in order to do this, both partners would need to be citizens of the United States and Belbin had not yet gotten American citizenship. In 2004, Belbin and Agosto won their first national title. In 2005, Belbin and Agosto won their first [[World Figure Skating Championships|World]] medal. This was the first World medal for the United States in ice dancing in 20 years. Their [[silver medal]] at this competition, along with how well the other American team did, earned the United States three spots on the Olympic team. However, this would not have done them any good because Belbin was still not an American citizen. If she had applied for citizenship, she would have gotten her citizenship in time for the 2006 [[Olympic Games|Olympics]]. Because of rules changes after she had applied, she could not go back and take advantage of other rules, so she and Agosto thought they would have to miss the 2006 Olympics. But a special law was passed allowing her to take advantage of the sped-up process. Belbin was sworn in as an American citizen on December 31, 2005. At the [[2006 Winter Olympics]], Belbin and Agosto won the first ice dancing medal (a [[Silver medal|silver]])