SM: Not only are you an Olympic medalist, two-time World medalist and six-time U.S. Championships medalist, but you and your partner, Ben, also took time out last year to plan and host a charity ice show for victims of the South Asian tsunami. How did that come about?
Belbin: First, we called an arena in our area that might work out and they said they would donate the rink, so we thought, “Well, that’s a good start.” We called all the skaters that we knew and everyone was kind of feeling the same way that we did—helpless and frustrated and knowing that there could be more we could be doing. We basically dedicated every spare minute we had to trying to track down the necessary resources we needed and have them donated, so we could put a show on. It was a very big challenge but it was probably one of the most life-changing experiences that I’ve had.

The event, dubbed Skate Aid, took place on February 4, 2005 and raised more than $37,000 for the Red Cross International Response Fund for Tsunami Relief. Two-time U.S. Champion Johnny Weir, Timothy Goebel, Amber Corwin, Evan Lysacek, Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash, Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, and Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn all took the ice for the charity event.

SM: Professional athletes have such full lives that many, like you, postpone going to college because they simply don’t have the time to devote to both their career and school. Do you feel like you’ve missed out on the college experience because you were focusing on your career?
Belbin: I haven’t regretted anything I’ve done or any decisions I’ve made in my life, because I’m sure a lot of college students would love also to be world travelers [and to be] competing at the Olympic games. It’s tough to have the best of both worlds. I think that I would have been just fine had I gone to school and gone into journalism, but in order to reach the level that I have, I had no choice but to focus myself completely [on my sport]. Had I split my life like that, between school and skating, I would not have been as successful [as I wanted to be] in either one. I don’t regret dedicating myself to my sport and, actually, my success in skating has opened the door to broadcasting. I have already signed a contract with Good Morning America to do reporting for them [and] without skating I never would have had the chance. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than this.