SM: Did your family move with you?
Belbin: We split our family up, so my brother and my father had to stay in Montreal. My mother and I got an apartment in Detroit, and we tried to make ends meet.

SM: Being apart must have been hard on everyone.
Belbin: It was difficult and I think it was even harder than I realized it was on everybody else because my parents did such a good job of trying to allow me to focus only on what I needed to do with my school and my skating. And, you know, on a daily basis it’s hard to not let skating consume your whole life. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned how to separate things—when you have a bad day on the ice you don’t have to have a bad day in general. It’s getting easier but it definitely takes dedication.

SM: How challenging is training and what are the hours like?
Belbin: Well, we skate about four-and-a-half hours a day and then we have an hour to an hour-and-a-half of off-ice [training] a day. When it comes right down to it, it’s a 9-to-5 job, almost exactly. But, it’s just about the coolest job we could ever have. We would never complain about it. I think being an Olympic level athlete [in ice dancing] requires the same things as from any sport—which is the sacrifice, the dedication. You have to shed blood, sweat and tears, but it’s so fulfilling in the end.