--- title: 'Despacito' Wins the 2018 Ice Dancing Competition description: If you watched the ice dancing competition at the 2018 Olympics, there's a good chance you came away with "Despacito" stuck in your head. canonical: https://time.com/5165228/olympics-2018-ice-dancing-despacito/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-19T04:02:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:59:14.022Z og:title: This Popular Song Is Having an Olympic Moment og:description: The song of the summer is making a serious winter comeback og:url: https://time.com/5165228/olympics-2018-ice-dancing-despacito/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f52d258e3c63094/69892828096a944fa66a18fb/yura-min-alexander-gamelin.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Yura-Min-Alexander-Gamelin-Figure-Skating og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Popular Song Is Having an Olympic Moment twitter:description: The song of the summer is making a serious winter comeback twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f52d258e3c63094/69892828096a944fa66a18fb/yura-min-alexander-gamelin.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Despacito' Is the Clear Winner of the 2018 Olympic Ice Dancing Competition > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: How To Watch Ice Dancing [Watch (HLS stream): How To Watch Ice Dancing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XFDXhju7.m3u8) (3:10)  _Published 2018-01-30. How to watch Ice Dancing, courtesy of Meryl Davis and Charlie White, 2014 Olympic Ice Dance Gold medalists._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 19, 2018 4:02 AM UTC How to watch Ice Dancing, courtesy of Meryl Davis and Charlie White, 2014 Olympic Ice Dance Gold medalists.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 19, 2018 4:02 AM UTC If you watched the short program portion of the [ice dancing competition](http://time.com/5131461/ice-dance-olympics-2018-how-to-watch/) at the [2018 Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5143796/winter-olympic-medals-by-country-2018/), there’s a good chance you came away with [“Despacito”](http://time.com/4923177/spotify-song-of-summer-2017/) stuck in your head. Three pairs opened their program during Sunday’s figure skating event in PyeongChang with versions of the smash hit by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, which [became the most streamed song ever](http://time.com/4888128/youtube-most-viewed-video/) over the summer with more than 4.6 billion YouTube views. “Despacito’s” big night began with China’s Xinyu Liu and Shiyue Wang. Korea’s Alexander Gamelin and Yura Min were next to break it down to the popular Latin jam, with Polish skaters Maksym Spodyriev and Natalia Kaliszek — whose 66.06 was the highest score of the three teams — following shortly afterward. > [](https://twitter.com/hodakotb/status/965428976956030976) The Internet, of course, was quick to take note of the of the Despacito trend. One Twitter user even tried to warn fellow skating fans about the prolific use of the song leading up to the event. “THERE ARE GONNA BE 3 DESPACITO SHORT DANCES TODAY,” @doubleflutz wrote. “AND TWO OF THEM ARE BACK TO BACK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.” > [](https://twitter.com/doubleflutz/status/965381895952384001) See a selection of the reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/wundernerd8/status/965414963367071745) > [](https://twitter.com/christylemire/status/965420205764575232) > [](https://twitter.com/EpicK8lin/status/965420425542029313) > [](https://twitter.com/jessieopie/status/965415131910991874) > [](https://twitter.com/CammienRay/status/965418853835722752) > [](https://twitter.com/gunnarolla/status/965418438519746560) > [](https://twitter.com/marshalederman/status/965420578935984128) > [](https://twitter.com/heungsmin/status/965418406404083717) ## Transcript [00:00] Here we go. This is Foxtrot. This is waltz. And this [00:04] is Killian. Hi everyone. I'm Meryl Davis. And I'm Charlie [00:07] White. And we are the 2014 Olympic Ice Dance [00:10] champions. And we are here to tell you what you need [00:12] to know about ice dancing. One of the most common [00:14] questions we get is what's the difference between [00:17] figure skating and ice dancing. The truth is that ice [00:21] dancing is sort of a subdiscipline of the greater sport [00:24] of figure skating. There's pair skating and there's ice [00:27] dancing. Both of those are couples, and a lot of people [00:30] are getting them confused. So in ice dancing, we do [00:33] not get to do lifts over the head. In pair skating, you [00:36] will see throws across the ice. We do not get to do that [00:39] in ice dancing. You will see side by side spins. We do [00:41] not get to do that. Ice dancing is a little bit more [00:45] theatrical. As per the name, it's more dance based [00:46] and so, often times, if you see a couple in a hold like [00:50] this, it's probably ice dancing. [ chuckle ] One of the [00:53] great things about ice dancing is How close we can be [00:56] and that's really difficulty comes in. When we're skating [00:59] around you want to see that we're moving together that [01:03] we're facing each other, because that is a level of [01:05] difficulty. So, even if I swizzle her and then we come, [01:08] and then we turn, and then we turn back, and then we [01:11] turn back the other way. What's important is that we're [01:14] not just skating. Side- by- side the whole time. But [01:17] when you see the top teams, you'll see that they are [01:19] skating really close togehter. Their feet are almost [01:21] touching. And yet, they're able to avoid hitting each [01:24] other and making mistakes. One of our favorite [01:26] elements The twizzles. [ LAUGH ] A [01:31] twizzle is like a spin that you'll see a lot of skaters do [01:34] in figure skating. However, it moves across the ice. [01:37] And what makes it so difficult is that the blade that [01:40] we're skating on, it has a rocker to it, so it's not just [01:43] flat. So you have to try to hit right basically beneath the [01:47] ball of your foot. You wanna try to stay centered on [01:49] that as you're twizzling across the ice, but it's really [01:52] easy to start rocking back and forth on your blade as [01:55] you're turning. Should we try to do some side by side [01:58] twizzles here? When was the last time we did twizzles, [02:01] probably Sochi. Okay ready, [02:08] and twizzle. [ SOUND ] [ LAUGH ] Slow got it. Slow got [02:09] it. [ LAUGH ] And when turn to the left over the head or [02:11] throws, we do the lifts and so the lifts sometimes are [02:14] quite acrobatic. We want to try to make them unique [02:16] and different and impressive and dificult in their own [02:20] way. So often times, the girl stands on the guy's leg like [02:23] this and also the things that he can do To [02:27] make it different and unique. But one of the most [02:30] interesting questions that we get is people are always [02:33] worried about the girl standing on the guy's leg. And [02:36] whether or not that's painful. You wanna take that one? [02:37] [ LAUGH ] It is. [ LAUGH ] So another really [02:41] important thing in ice dance is we want to seemlessly [02:43] integrate the elements in sort of all of the things that [02:47] really are difficult. Into the program and make it seem [02:51] less disjointed. You have four minutes and [02:56] obviously, we have to fit in certain required elements [02:58] but at the same time, you want the audience and the [03:02] judges to feel like they're a part of the story that you're [03:04] telling. 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