FOR THIS PAIR, IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SKATE.

Byline: PAUL OBERJUERGE

TURIN, Italy - If this Olympics story were any sweeter, we'd all go into insulin shock. Any more heartwarming, we'd need a thoracic ice pack.

Russian Boy leaves Moscow for a long-shot, Internet-generated, blind- date-like, ice-dance tryout with American Girl.

Russian Boy meets American Girl. They become skate partners at first sight. They are madly in love in a matter of weeks, if not sooner. They become life partners five months later when they are married, in February 2001.

Russian Boy becomes American citizen in 2005. He weeps when he takes the oath of citizenship.

He and his wife make the Turin Olympics team. He gets chills here when he gets his Olympics clothing and inscribed on a tag inside a red, white and blue cap are the words, ``Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.''

``These words mean so much to me because I'm living the American dream,'' Denis Petukhov said Friday. ``I'm doing what I love and I'm successful at it, and that's what the American Dream is about.''

Petukhov and Melissa Gregory are the kind of feel-good story to warm the hearts of even the most jaded of journalists.

They had been ice dancers without partners. Souls without mates. Now they are sublimely happy, silver medalists at the U.S. national championships three years running, and now Olympians, as well.

In a skating discipline where romance often is contrived, these two live it - 24 googly-eyed hours a day.

``Five years ago, we basically began our new lives, both of us,'' Petukhov said. ``New chapters in our lives. Five years later, we could never imagine it would be this way.''

Each seemed to be at a career dead-end when they met on the ice, in Denver.

Petukhov was a native of Kirov lost and unwelcome in Moscow's clubby skate world. Gregory, from a Chicago suburb, had been partnerless for three years and told her coach she would go back to school if she didn't have a partner by Sept. 1, 2000.

They connected via the Internet. A friend of Gregory's mother saw a post from Petukhov on the International Skating Union site. A friend of Petukhov had written it because Petukhov didn't speak English. Nor did he own a computer.

Gregory's mother encouraged her to inquire. ``So I reluctantly responded to it, mind you,'' she said.

Petukhov and Gregory corresponded. They thought they might have similar skating styles and tastes. They exchanged photos. They arranged for Petukhov, then 21, to come to the U.S. to skate with Gregory, then 19. He landed in Denver on Aug. 31, one day before Gregory's ``partner or I quit'' deadline.

How did it go? Let Gregory tell it.

``It wasn't easy. He didn't speak English and I didn't speak Russian. We managed to communicate in sign language. We skated. By the time our coaches got there, we said, 'This is what we're going to do.' It felt right, and we didn't care what anybody else thought.''

Petukhov had other tryouts scheduled. He canceled them.

He had a return ticket to Moscow. He never used it. ``We still have it at home in our drawer,'' Gregory said, smiling.

Said Petukhov: ``I loved her from Day One.''

Said Gregory: ``There were sparks, but I wasn't looking for a husband,

or even a boyfriend or a love interest. We kept talking and getting closer ... and it happened.''

They were an item, on and off the ice. Petukhov proposed at Christmas. They were married Feb. 2, 2001. A year later, they finished third at the U.S. nationals.

Maybe Gregory deserves some credit, but Petukhov immediately fell in love with the United States, as well. ``The people in the United States, they always amaze me, how warm they are, how helpful,'' he said. ``This wasn't how it was in Russia.''

Gregory said Petukhov was agog at the career options and the possibilities for young people of talent and ambition. ``When he found out that if you had a driver's license you could go on a car lot and test any car, he went crazy,'' she said. ``Everything from Porsche to Ford, he tried it.''

``But no Ferrari yet,'' Petukhov added.

She said he tried ``almost everything a boy would do from about 6 years old to 21. He did it all in six months. From fishing, a bicycle, rollerblading, BB-gun shooting ...''

Added Petukhov: ``The remote-control car, too.''

The Americanization of Petukhov was complete on Feb. 25, 2005, when he became a U.S. citizen in a Chicago courtroom.

``It was quite an emotional moment for me because I'm sitting in the room with 138 people,'' said Petukhov, now fluent in English. ``It was like the whole world was sitting there, so many different nations. Because when you sit in this room and see on the faces of the people, all the dreams and all the hopes basically come true because now they are free people.''

Said Gregory: ``We sometimes take for granted what we have, as Americans. To see the joy of these people getting their citizenship and beginning a new life, it was humbling. I was very proud.''

Like many naturalized citizens, Petukhov is a particularly patriotic American. ``The United States has given me all the opportunity to be my best,'' he said. ``This is what America is all about. So many immigrants in the country. That's what the country great, because of this.''

They are a striking couple. Petukhov is blond, with an angular face, blue eyes and a ponytail. Gregory is a petite and handsome brunette with dark-blue eyes.

They make a pretty picture on the ice, but their chances at a medal here are slim, unlike better-known teammates Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. Petukhov and Gregory finished 11th at the 2005 world championships. ``We haven't fulfilled our full potential,'' Gregory said. ``We're going to keep going at it.''

Ice-dancing competition begins Friday. No matter where the duo of Petukhov and Gregory finish here, you get the idea they already have experienced triumph in more meaningful ways.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) Ice dancers Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov were searching for skating partners when they met on the Internet.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Box:

ICE DANCING