Stéphane Lambiel

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Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Silver	2006 Turin	Men's singles

Stéphane Lambiel (born April 2, 1985 in Martigny, Switzerland) is a Swiss figure skater, known for his creative and beautiful spins. He is a two-time World Champion (2005-2006), the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and a seven-time National Champion.

Stéphane Lambiel

Stéphane Lambiel
Personal Info
Country:	Switzerland
Residence:	Lausanne, Switzerland
Height:	176 cm
Coach:	Peter Grütter
Skating Club:	Patineurs de Genève
ISU Personal Best Scores
Short + Free Total:	233.99	2006 Worlds
Short Program:	80.60	2005 GP Final
Free Skate:	160.90	2006 Worlds

Most Recent Results:
Event	Points	Finish	Year
World Championships	233.35	3rd	2007
National Championships	206.95	1st	2007
Skate Canada International	210.70	1st	2006

Contents 1 Biography 2 Programs 3 Competitive results 4 Trivia 5 References 6 External links 7 Navigation

[edit] Biography

Lambiel grew up in Saxon, Switzerland. He has a sister, Silvia (born in 1982), and a brother, Christophe (born in 1989). Lambiel lives in Lausanne, Switzerland and received his "maturité" (matura) in biology and chemistry in June 2004. However, he has decided to postpone university studies to focus on figure skating. He trains in Geneva and Lausanne and as most Swiss rinks close in the summer, he also trains in Germany (Oberstdorf sometimes) during that time. His long-time coach is Peter Grütter and his choreographer is Salomé Brunner. He has recurring injuries in both his knees, requiring him to miss exhibitions and training time.

As the Swiss novice men's champion, Lambiel performed an exhibition at the 1997 World Figure Skating Championships, held in Lausanne. The next year, he became Swiss junior men's champion and by 2000, he was the Swiss senior men's champion. He came in fifth at the 2001 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. The next season, Lambiel was age-eligible for senior international competition. The Swiss skating federation told him that they would send him to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City if he placed in the top twelve at the European Figure Skating Championships. ^[1] Lambiel placed fourth there and was sent to the Olympics, where he placed fifteenth. He then placed eighteenth at the senior Worlds.

The following season, Lambiel placed fifth at Europeans and moved up a few places at Worlds. By 2004, he was sixth at Europeans and fourth at Worlds, leaving him in the perfect spot for a move to the top. He did that at the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow. He was ahead of Evgeni Plushenko after the qualifying round and short program. When Plushenko withdrew from the competition with an injury, Lambiel was suddenly in a position to win the title. He did, with a spectacular performance to the King Arthur soundtrack. He landed two quadruple toe loops in the free skate and was the only skater to do two at that event. It was the first time a Swiss man had been World Champion since Hans Gerschwiler in 1947.

Lambiel went into the 2006 Olympic season as the World Champion, but not as the favourite for the Olympic title. He won two silver medals on the Grand Prix circuit and won the Grand Prix Final. He came in second at Europeans, behind Plushenko, and went into the Olympics with a strong chance to medal. He was third after the short program, but pulled up to second to win the silver medal. Lambiel did not complete a triple axel at the Olympics. However, he did land a perfect quadruple-triple-double combination.

Plushenko chose not to go to Worlds, leaving Lambiel as the favourite to defend his title. Lambiel was first after the qualifying round and maintained his lead through the short and the long programs, allowing him to successfully defend his title and become the first Swiss skater ever to be a two-time World Champion.

Lambiel began the 2006 - 2007 season by coming back from the short program to win the gold medal at Skate Canada International, where he finished seventh in the short program and first in the free skate. Lambiel had also been assigned to the NHK Trophy, but he withdrew before the event, citing health reasons.^[2] He recovered in time to skate at the Swiss Championships, where he won his seventh national title. However, on January 16th, Lambiel withdrew from the European Championships, citing burnout.^[3]

At the 2007 World championships in Tokyo, he fell on his triple axel and tripled his intended quad-triple combination in the short program and placed 6th. He came back in the long program where he landed two quads and a triple axel and finished in second on the night and third overall.

[edit] Programs

[edit] Competitive results

Event	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007
Winter Olympic Games					15th				2nd
World Championships					18th	10th	4th	1st	1st	3rd
European Championships				9th	4th	5th	6th	4th	2nd	WD
Grand Prix Final									1st
Swiss Championships	1st J.	1st J.		1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
Skate Canada International										1st
Cup of China									2nd
Cup of Russia							5th		2nd
Trophee Lalique					6th
Finlandia Trophy					11th
World Junior Championships			10th	5th
JGP Mexico				2nd
JGP Norway			7th
JGP Japan			3rd
JGP France		8th
JGP China		8th
Ondrej Nepela Memorial						1st
Triglav Trophy	3rd N.
Les Etoiles de la Glace						1st
Olympic Winter Festival		2nd J.

• N = Novice level; J = Junior level, WD = Withdrew; TBD = To Be Decided

[edit] Trivia

• Speaks French, German (not Swiss German), English, and Portuguese fluently. He is learning Italian.
• Designs his own costumes.
• Can spin and jump in both directions.
• Collects ladybugs and considers them a good luck charm.
• He often jokes that he is able to spin so well because he eats a lot of Swiss chocolate.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/5070841/detail.html
2. ^ http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,4844-128590-19728-18885-264781-3787-4771-layout46-129898-news-item,00.html
3. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070117/sp_wl_afp/fskateeurpolsui_070117154030

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Stéphane Lambiel at the International Skating Union biography page

[edit] Navigation