David Pelletier

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Olympic medalist
[[Image:|Center|150px]] David Pelletier
Medal record
Figure skating
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Pairs

David Pelletier (born November 22, 1974 in Sayabec, Québec) is a Canadian pairs figure skater, who is partnered with Jamie Salé.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Skating with Jamie 3 "Love Story" 4 Gold, gold, gold 5 Olympic hopes 6 Since Salt Lake City 7 Competitive results 7.1 Pairs 7.1.1 Amateur 7.1.2 Professional 7.2 Singles 8 Awards 9 External links 10 Navigation

[edit] Early career

Pelletier achieved early success as a pair skater with Julie Laporte. They won both the novice and junior titles at the Canadian Championships and placed 7th at Junior Worlds in 1992. Despite these accolades, Pelletier felt his career needed a "shake up" and paired up with Allison Gaylor. They trained in part with Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler, and had their biggest success in 1995 when they captured the 1995 Canadian silver medal and represented Canada at the World Championships in Birmingham, England where they placed just 15th. That same year, Pelletier stunned the skating community and himself by placing second in the short program of the men's event at the Canadian championships. He struggled in the long program, falling to fourth overall.

After failing to reach the podium the next two years, Pelletier and Gaylor split and Pelletier paired up with young singles skater Caroline Roy. Just before the 1998 Canadian championships, Pelletier's former partner Julie Laporte was killed in a car accident. Pelletier and Roy had a strong skate, but placed 6th and split soon after the event.

[edit] Skating with Jamie

David asked coach Richard Gaulthier to help him find another partner, and he suggested Salé. They traveled to Edmonton in February 1998 to tryout with Salé again. "The first time we grabbed hands, it was just great," said Pelletier, and by the next month Salé had moved to Montreal to skate with him.

The Canadian Figure Skating Association invited the pair to compete at Skate Canada, where they immediately made a statement by placing second in the short program - ahead of reigning Canadian Champions Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz - and third in the long program to win the bronze medal. Because of their success, they were invited to the NHK Trophy in Japan and brought home another bronze medal.

Their fall successes made them favorites for the Canadian title, but they struggled technically and finished second. The silver medal earned them a spot on the Four Continents and World team, but Pelletier's back pain forced the pair to withdraw from both competitions. They would ultimately spend two months off the ice recuperating.

[edit] "Love Story"

In the summer of 1999, Gaulthier enlisted the help of Lori Nichol, a very successful Canadian choreographer who was most known for her work with Michelle Kwan. She created a playful tango piece for their short program, and, after a suggestion from coach Marijane Stong, set their long program to music from the movie Love Story.

The program was an instant success. At the 1999 Skate America competition, they rendered a stunning defeat of the reigning and two-time world champions and Olympic silver medalists Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze by winning both the short and long programs. At their second Grand Prix event, Nations Cup, they finished second to Russians Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov. With these solid results they went into the Grand Prix Final with high hopes and even higher expectations. Several errors in both programs landed them in a disappointing fifth place. Though their throw jumps and lifts were a highlight, Salé's solo jump struggles would continue to plague the team throughout the rest of their eligible career.

They competed at the 2000 Canadian Championships in Salé's hometown of Calgary. They skated a strong short program but exceeded even their own expectations by bringing down the house with a nearly flawless long program, earning five 6.0 marks in presentation - the first for a pair at the championships. They also captured another 6.0 and the gold medal at the Four Continents Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Up next were the 2000 World Championships in Nice, France. Salé had a major error on a spin in the short program, but they managed to hang onto third. She again struggled, this time with her jumps, in the long program and they dropped off the podium to fourth place overall.

[edit] Gold, gold, gold

Salé and Pelletier returned to Lori Nichol for their 2000-01 programs. She choreographed a jazzy short to "Come Rain or Come Shine" and a dramatic, mature long to Waggner's opera "Tristan und Isolde." They returned to Skate America and Skate Canada that fall, winning both over Shen/Zhao and Berezhnaia/Sikharulidze, respectively. Berezhnaia/Sikharulidze then narrowly defeated them at Trophee Lalique.

The pair was again a great hit at the 2001 Canadian Championships in Winnipeg, but did not earn the string of 6.0s that "Love Story" had brought them the previous year. They went on to win again at Four Continents in Salt Lake City, the site for the 2002 Olympics, and dusted off "Love Story" to win the Grand Prix Final - despite Sale missing the side by side triple toe loop in all three phases of the competition.

The 2001 World Championships were held in Vancouver, and Salé and Pelletier entered as heavy favorites. Trouble on the side by side jumps landed them in third place in the short program, but the team was able to skate a nearly flawless long program (Salé singled a side by side double axel) to capture the title. They were the first Canadian pair to win Worlds since Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler in 1993, and the first pair to win at a Worlds held in Canada since Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini in 1984. They would later win the Lou Marsh Trophy as outsanding Canadian athlete in 2001.

[edit] Olympic hopes

Salé and Pelletier again demonstrated early success in the 2001-02 season, winning both Skate America and Skate Canada with their new long program to "Adiago Sostenuno" by Rachmaninov, nicknamed "Orchid" for its flower theme. Perhaps more importantly, they demonstrated technical consistency in both competitions.

The Grand Prix Final, held in Kitchener, Ontario, was important because it was the first and only chance to test their programs against the top contenders before the Olympics. Despite a rough performance of "Orchid" in the first long program, Salé and Pelletier once again won skating a flawless performance of "Love Story" for their second long program. They headed into the 2002 Canadian Championships in Hamilton, Ontario with confidence, having defeated Berezhnaia and Sikharulidze, their biggest rivals. They were able to win the title despite a badly flawed long program, and the performance increased talks that they would revert to "Love Story" for the Olympic Games.

The pressure for the Olympics was intense. Despite several silvers and bronzes, Canada had only won two gold medals in figure skating, in 1948 and 1960. All eyes were on Salé and Pelletier to break the streak and win, overcoming the Russian pairs dominance that had lasted for 40 years. They skated a clean short program, only to trip and fall on their closing pose. Because the fall was not on an element, it did not receive a deduction, but it marred the program enough to land the pair in second place behind Berezhnaia and Sikharulidze. It was anyone's game in the long program - winner takes all.

Skating after the Russians, Salé and Pelletier delivered a stunning performance to "Love Story" and captured the audience and commentators alike. A minor jump step out error from Sikharulidze and a clean program from the Canadians had many convinced of the results: Canada was finally golden.

It was not yet to be, because when the judges' scores came up, Salé and Pelletier had been placed second in the long program. Five judges had awarded the long program to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, and only four to Salé and Pelletier. This result spurred an outcry from the North American media and booing from many audience members, but Salé and Pelletier accepted the silver medal. After the competition, the French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne admitted she had been pressured into awarding the long program to the Russians in exchange for a first-place vote for the French ice dancing team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, and a judging controversy quickly blew up. The scandal ultimately resulted in the suspension of several judges and officials. The results of the competition were discarded and Salé and Pelletier were awarded a second set of gold medals in a special ceremony later in the week.

The controversy resulted in several changes to the judging system after Salt Lake City. First anonymous judging was incorporated to "relieve outside pressure" from judges by separating their names from their marks so pressurers could not assert whether the judge had acted as they wished or not. The ISU Judging System, based on a Code of Points rather than a 6.0 scale, was adopted for use in the Grand Prix season of 2003-04, and for all 2004-05 competitions and thereafter.

[edit] Since Salt Lake City

Since the Olympics, the pair has turned professional and have toured North America with Stars on Ice, a popular figure skating show. They are currently living in Edmonton, Alberta.

David proposed to Jamie on Christmas Day (December 25), 2004 in front of his parents and Jamie's mother. He sent her on a scavenger hunt through the house, and the final resting place of the engagement ring was in the kitchen on one of their nutcrackers. The couple got married on December 30, 2005. In 2006, they served as commentators on Olympic Ice which aired on USA Network during the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino Italy.

[edit] Competitive results

[edit] Pairs

[edit] Amateur

(with Jamie Salé)

Event	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002
Winter Olympic Games				1st
World Championships		4th	1st
Four Continents Championships		1st	1st
Canadian Championships	2nd	1st	1st	1st
Grand Prix Final		5th	1st	1st
Skate America		1st	1st	1st
Skate Canada International	3rd		1st	1st
Nations Cup		2nd
Trophée Lalique			2nd
NHK Trophy	3rd
Canadian Open			1st
Masters of Figure Skating	4th

(with Allison Gaylor)

Event	1993-1994	1994-1995	1995-1996	1996-1997
World Championships		15th
Canadian Championships	8th	2nd	5th	6th
Nations Cup			12th

(with Caroline Roy)

1998:

• Canadian Figure Skating Championships: 6th place

(with Julie Laporte)

1993:

• World Junior Figure Skating Championships: 7th place

[edit] Professional

(with Salé)

2003:

• World Team Challenge: 1st place (Team)
• Ice Wars: 2nd place (Team)

2002:

• Hallmark Skaters' Championship: 1st place
• Sears Canadian Open: 1st place

[edit] Singles

1995:

• Canadian Figure Skating Championships: 4th place

[edit] Awards

• 2001 - Winner of Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian athlete of the year (with Jamie Salé)

[edit] External links

• The Official Website of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier
• Jamie Salé & David Pelletier fanlisting
• "Stars on Ice" Profile
• Pairs on Ice: Jamie Salé & David Pelletier
• David Pelletier Gallery

[edit] Navigation

Preceded by Daniel Igali

(with Jamie Salé) Lou Marsh Trophy winner 2001

Succeeded by Catriona Le May Doan