Russian-born ice dancer Sergey Magerovskiy has become a United States citizen and is now eligible to compete with partner Tiffany Stiegler to represent the United States at the Turin Winter Olympics in February.
USA Figure Skating says Magerovskiy was sworn-in during a ceremony in Detroit on Wednesday. In 2002, he married American Rebecca Palmer, his former partner, and applied for naturalization under U.S. law after three years of marriage.
The Olympics is the only major global figure skating competition where both partners must be from the same nation. The move comes one week after a special bill was passed by the U.S. Congress regarding U.S. citizenship for aliens of extraordinary ability, including that of U.S. ice dancing champion Tanith Belbin from Canada.
Some information for this story provided by AP and AFP.
