FIGURE SKATING: World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov have put Winter Games hosts' Russia back on the top of Olympic pairs figure skating as they reclaimed the title on front of an emotional crowd.

Dressed in gold to match their expectations they also became the first couple since 1936 to win on home ice as they led a Russian 1-2 ahead of Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, days after both also won the Olympic team gold.

Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy took their second Olympic bronze after both fell during their free program in the Iceberg Skating Palace on Wednesday night.

Trankov fell to his knees with his fists clenched above his head and kissed the ice as Ukrainian-born Volosozhar buried her face in her hands with tears in her eyes after their skate to the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar".

They knew they had won gold even before the final two couples - China's Pang Qing and Tong Jian; and Savchenko and Szolkowy - took to the ice.

To chants of "MOLODTSI! MOLODTSI!" (Russian for 'Bravo guys!') they restored Russia's pairs' supremacy to the delight of the almost capacity crowd lost amid a sea of red and white flags.

Skaters from the Soviet Union and Russia won 12 straight titles until the 2010 Vancouver Games when they failed to medal and China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won gold.

"Today was a big day for all of Russia," said Trankov, after they also became the first skaters to win two Olympic gold medals.

"Now I think Russian pairs are the elite skaters in the world," he said.

"We had no right to make a mistake. It was our objective to bring the gold back to Russia and the whole country was expecting that."

They became the first couple to win on home ice since Germany's Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 78 years ago.

Two-time winners Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, who won the first Olympic pairs title for the former Soviet Union in 1964 at Innsbruck, were in the crowd and rose to their feet to give the pairs a standing ovation.

The married pair defected to Switzerland in 1979.

Trankov wore golden trousers and Volosozhar a gold dress.

"It was our ice today, we felt at home. It was a crazy night," she said.

Despite errors with Volosozhar's hand touching the ice on a throw triple loop and triple salchow, and some of their spins being out of synch, the pair extended their 4.53-point lead from the short program to finish 18.18 points ahead of Stolbova and Klimov, who also won team gold.

They scored 152.69 for the free skate and 236.86 overall.

Stolbova, 21, and Klimov, 23, brought the house down with their entertaining and error-free The Addams Family, which earned them 143.43 and 218.68 overall to move up to second from third after the short program.

"It was very important for us to perform well at the Olympics that are in Russia. It's an once in a lifetime opportunity," said Klimov.

Four-time world champions Savchenko and Szolkowy dropped to third after both fell during their free skate to The Nutcracker.

The Germans, who lost their world title to Volosozhar and Trankov last year, finished fourth in the free skate when Savchenko, also Ukrainian born, fell on a triple toeloop and Szolkowy on their final throw triple salchow.

Pang and Tong, both 34, silver medallists in Vancouver, finished in fourth in their final competition.