2001 – 2002 Season

An Olympic Season

As they have done the past two years, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier began their season at Skate America and Skate Canada. Salé and Pelletier easily won both competitions demonstrating a new consistency and comfort in their skating, particularly with the side-by-side triple jumps. Their new competitive programs were warmly received by audiences and judges and with their success early in the season, they qualified for the Grand Prix Final.

In December, Jamie and David arrived at the Grand Prix Final in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario with great expectations for the last international competition before the Winter Olympic Games. The talk of the media included speculation regarding which long program they would choose to skate at the Olympic Games: Orchid or Love Story. At the Grand Prix Final, Jamie and David would skate both programs because the event required two long programs. “‘We’re excited about Love Story, but we’re also excited about Rachmaninov because it’s taking our skating in a different direction,’ Pelletier commented. ‘Actually, it’s a great problem to have, to have two good programs like this. We’re so happy and excited that we have two great programs to choose from.’”

Beginning the competition with a clean short program, Salé and Pelletier had difficulty in the first long program when their music (Orchid) played faster than usual. The pair were unfazed by the problem and looked at the situation with their usual humor. “It’s a good thing Jamie was there. Every time I let go of her hand, I felt like I was going to fall. She held me up. It’s hard to explain. It felt like I was skating in someone else’s skates. I couldn’t skate tonight. We want to feel better about what we do tomorrow night and that’s where our focus is now.” In second place before the second long program, Jamie and David delivered a flawless performance of Love Story to earn two perfect 6.0′s and win the competition. Commentators Debbi Wilkes and Rod Black stated: “This program is absolutely captivating. As different as Orchid was last night, lacking confidence, lacking the kind of connection that they are known for on the ice. Love Story came to life. The sound in the building, you could hear a pin drop, every move perfect, clean. It was unbelievable.”

Before Christmas, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier learned that they had won the prestigious Lou March Award as Canada’s top athlete of the year. “‘We’re both extremely honored and happy to receive such a special award. We’re not looking for awards but every time one comes around, and I always feel a little uncomfortable, but it’s great that you know you’re doing something well in your life,’ said Salé. ‘It shows that we’re getting some recognition for what we’re doing and the success that we’ve had.’” Both were very honored to be nominated with the other athletes. “We just can’t even believe we’re even put in a class with all those other top athletes, and that we were even nominated with so many stars. If you look at the list of people who were nominated; hockey player Joe Sakic, and speed skaters Catriona Le May Doan and Jeremy Wotherspoon, it’s a big, uncomfortable feeling. But once you get over it, it feels great.’” Other figure skaters who have won the Lou Marsh award include Barbara Ann Scott (1945/47/48); Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul (1959); Donald Jackson (1962); Petra Burka (1965); and Kurt Browning (1990). “There’s nothing bigger in Canada for an athlete to win,’ Pelletier said. ‘It’s the nicest recognition for an athlete to have in this country.’”

Their final stop before the Olympic Games, Jamie and David were required to qualify at the national championship for the world and Olympic team. Wanting to build toward the Olympic Games, Salé and Pelletier began the defense of their national title in Hamilton with a clean short program. Things did not go as smoothly in the long program where Jamie had uncharacteristic mistakes although the pair easily defended their national title. David Pelletier was criticized by the media for the way he handled the disappointment of the long program when he became very upset following the marks. Following the event, the couple returned home to train and refocus for the Olympic Games. Arriving at the Olympic Games: “They’ve come through a rough stretch. First, there was the disappointing performance at the Canadian championships in Hamilton three weeks ago. They won another national title, but they did not skate up to their potential and that annoyed them. Then Salé was stricken with a flu, resulting in three lost practice days last week. They were in a slump, said Pelletier. ‘We went through some tough times after nationals in getting ourselves prepared for this,’ said Salé. ‘Now we’re really excited to be here and just to feel healthy. Our dream is coming true.’”

The Olympic Games

In 1994, with her partner Jason Turner, Jamie Salé was the youngest member of the Canadian Olympic team in Lillehammer, Norway. The pair finished 12th in the event. The 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City were David Pelletier’s first Olympic Games. “I’ve been telling myself that this is just like any other competition. But Jamie said, ‘realize that it’s not. It’s the Olympics. It’s not like any other competition you’ve done.’” Since their partnership in 1998, Jamie and David have been focused on the 2002 Olympic Games. As world champions, the pressure to win gold was intense. “‘Many Canadians want us to win gold,’ Pelletier said. ‘We obviously would like to win gold. But when the competition is finished and everybody goes back home, if we don’t win people will forget – but I won’t. So the most important thing for Jamie and myself is to go home feeling at peace about what we’ve done here because we’re going to have to live with the result.’”

Predicted by Sports Illustrated to win the silver medal, former world champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were chosen to win the gold medal and continue the Russian tradition of great Olympic pair champions. When told of the Sports Illustrated article, David commented: “’I'm sure they made their prediction knowing that the Russians have won 10 straight Olympic gold medals in pairs skating. If you pick the Russians to win gold in pairs, you’re going to have a pretty good batting average.”’ The competition between the Canadians and Russians was expected to be very close. Entering the Olympic Games, Salé and Pelletier had won nine consecutive competitions and they were the reining world champions. With a win, they would become the first non-Russian pair to win the gold medal since Canadians Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul won the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, California. In the history of the Winter Olympic Games, Canada has won only two gold medals in figure skating. “‘We know the history of figure skating, but we cannot take this responsibility on our shoulders. They’re not big enough. I’m not here to make history. I cannot compete for beating a streak that’s been going for 42 years. If it happens, it’s great, and I hope everybody will be proud. But I came here for myself,’ Pelletier said. ‘Maybe the Russians are feeling the pressure of not breaking that streak, too. I figure we’ve got nothing to lose.”’

Before the competition, Jamie and David admitted that their preparation for the Olympic Games had been difficult. “‘This has been the worst six months of my life,’ Pelletier said. ‘So many sleepless nights, so many nightmares. You go to the grocery store and it’s, ‘Bring back the gold.’ You go to the hardware store and it’s `Bring back the gold.’ I’m just there to buy a hammer.’” Jamie was feeling a different kind of pressure. “‘The hardest time is when I go to bed at night,’ says Salé. ‘I can’t sleep. I lie there thinking about it … my mind is going a hundred miles an hour. I can see myself on the ice at Salt Lake. I can just see it, that perfect program.”’

On Their Way

On the first day of competition, the pairs short program opened the figure skating event of the Olympic Games. Among the first to skate, former Russian world champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze set the standard when they skated a clean short program. In the next group of skaters, Barbara Underhill commented as Jamie Salé and David Pelletier took the ice for their short program, “There is a tremendous amount of pressure on them here, the first gold medal in forty-two years, they are the defending world champions. You just can’t even image what kind of pressure they are under tonight.”

Despite the tremendous pressure, Jamie and David delivered a clean short program where during the first few seconds of the program, they completed the most important and riskiest element the side-by-side triple toe-loops, the jump that had eluded them many times in competition. Paul Martini commented: “For all the times we’ve seen her miss that jump, her smile tells you everything. That is the one time they want to land that jump." Finishing their performance, the pair made an uncharacteristic mistake on their final pose of the short program. “‘I didn’t even know we had fallen until I was actually on the ice, because I’m backwards and upside down,’ said Salé. ‘All of the sudden, I’m laying there and he says, ‘I can’t believe I came all the way to the Olympics to do this.’” With marks ranging from 5.6 to 5.8 for technical merit and 5.8 to 5.9 for presentation, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier were second behind Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze entering the long program.

Following their performance, Jamie and David were laughing about the mistake at the end of their program. “’You don’t want to finish a program on your butt. Not here, anyway. But, I guess it was my Olympic moment,’ Pelletier laughed. ‘Seriously, the rest of it went really well. We’re very pleased. It was a really good start to the competition for us. We’re really comfortable and very confident with the way things are going right now.’” Coach Jan Ullmark was pleased with the performance and results. “‘I’m not disappointed,’ said Ullmark. ‘Not at all. They skated well. They did everything. We’re in the perfect place to be.”’

Sprinkled with Gold Dust

Two nights later, the pairs competition concluded with the long program. As if a warning of things to come, while preparing to attempt a triple toe-loop in the last minute of the warm-up, Jamie collided with Anton Sikharulidze who was about to attempt a throw with his partner Elena Berezhnaya. The collision knocked Salé to her knees on the ice, while Sikharulidze spun out of control onto his hands. David, who did not see the collision rushed to Jamie’s side as Anton was attempting to help her to her feet. Following the event, Jamie remembered the moment of the collision. “I purposely went to toward the side of the boards. It was the weirdest thing, I didn’t even hear anything because usually the crowd will warn the skaters. It really shook me up, it knocked the wind out of me. I couldn’t breath and I felt paralyzed for a minute. In that moment, I saw my whole week flash before me. But, it’s amazing what adrenaline will do for you. When I left the ice, I looked at Dave and thought I’m not giving up. I was really hurting but I smiled and said ‘No. This is my rink, this is my time. I have a performance to give tonight, I came here to do my best and I’m not giving up. We are both so lucky that we were not injured. How horrible would it have been to have to withdraw because of an injury and we didn’t get the chance to compete.’”

With a few minutes to collect herself, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier took the ice following a strong performance by the Russians. Their program, Love Story, was a flawless performance. The crowd applauded every element they completed and rose to their feet as the music ended. As they finished their program, Chris Cuthbert commented: “Gold dust sprinkled all over it. One of the great skates in Olympic history.” On the ice, Pelletier celebrated by kissing the ice and when they joined their coach to wait for their marks, the crowd chanted ‘Six. Six. Six.’ hoping for perfect scores for the Canadians. When the scoreboard showed a mixture of 5.9s and 5.8s which meant the Russians had taken first place. The look on the skaters face turned from happiness to disbelief. “‘It was shocking,’ said Salé. ‘We thought we had it for sure. Everybody in the building thought we had it. Then the marks came up and it was, like, `Oh my goodness’.'” The commentators agreed. ”This is wrong,’ Barbara Underhill commented as the second place ranking was displayed. ‘I’m in shock, I’m in absolute shock right now.’”

Before returning to the ice to receive their silver medal, Jamie and David were comforted by coaches and their choreographer Lori Nichol. With tears streaming down her face, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier congratulated the Russian champions and accepted their silver medals. Following the medal ceremony, Jamie and David spoke with the CBC. “‘It’s a perfect performance. We couldn’t skate it any better than that,’ said Salé.” David Pelletier was honest when asked about his thoughts. “‘It would be dishonest to say I am completely happy. What I cannot control, I can’t control. We controlled what we could control. If I didn’t want this, I should have skied and raced against the clock. But, I can’t ask for a better day than that. That was an amazing day for Jamie and myself. That’s all I have to say.”

Olympic Fallout

At the press conference following the event, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier showed their disappointment but handled the situation with grace. “’It’s tough tonight. It is the toughest day of my life. When I turn 50, I am sure I will look at the medal and say ‘Well, it seems like it does not shine enough. It should be gold,’ Pelletier commented. Salé was still crying at the news conference more than 45 minutes after the judges had made their decision. She slipped her hand into his and gave a tight squeeze. ‘The fact we rose to the occasion with billions of people watching, with our families here, that’s a great feeling. They can’t take that away from us. Obviously, I am sad to come second but like Jamie said nothing will take away the performance we did and that’s the way it is. Our silver medal is worth gold to us.’”

At the broadcast centre, Jamie admitted her thoughts during the marks. “Honestly, I thought we had won. There was still one team to skate, but I thought we had beat the Russians because I knew they had made a mistake. You just do, with a skate like that you think you will be on top.” Pelletier admitted, “’(When the placement was announced), it was like a big punch in the stomach.’ ‘Again!’ added Salé, referring to the collision earlier in the evening.” Jamie cried when asked how she felt “I just really wanted to see that Canadian flag in the middle, and hear the anthem. But, you can’t take the performance away from us. Obviously, this does mean gold to us. We feel amazing, we skated two great programs. We had a goal, we were focused, and we attained it. We had a great week, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I had a great time.” Greeted by friends and family at Canada house later that night, Jamie cried in her mothers arms when the group sang ‘O Canada’ for the silver medalists. For Jamie’s mother, this was an emotional moment. “I got to hug my little girl and tell her how proud I was of her.”

In the days that followed, Jamie and David received support from former figure skaters and fans around the world. “Hundreds of emails and telephone calls had been received, including messages from Kurt Browning, Brian Boitano, Elvis Stojko. Kurt Browning told the pair he was proud of how they had handled themselves and told them to hold their heads high and be proud of their performance. The other athletes at the Olympic village, teammates and athletes from other countries expressed their disappointment, their revulsion over the politics of subjective judging in figure skating.” In an interview, David remembered that the door to their bedroom was covered in ’6.0′s’ and he had even received a visit from the Norwegian bobsled team at three o’clock in the morning.

By the next day, the media had made the story front page news. The world was outraged with the judging and Salé and Pelletier were overwhelmed with media requests. The day following the event, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier did thirteen hours of interviews. “‘I like chocolate cake, but I don’t want to eat it for 13 hours,’ Pelletier laughed. ‘I feel like I’ve said everything I’ve had to say so many times, I’m starting to get sick of listening to myself.’” Never loosing their characteristic humor, the pair had frun with their new popularity. During an interview the CBC had a quote from Don Cherry, commentator for Hockey Night in Canada, who wanted to tell Jamie that she received ‘the best hit he’s seen in 10 years, and an NHL player would be out for 10 days with a concussion.’ David then wanted to tell Don Cherry, “I couldn’t hit the Russian, but I would have been the third man in and I would have been suspended.”

The previously unknown Canadian skaters were instant celebrities. “If they thought they were famous before, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier better get used to being recognized everywhere they go. They are celebrities for life now. Their names have been etched in Olympic Winter Games history, with their faces displayed on TV and in newspapers around the world — which is extraordinary given that they are not in possession of gold medals. They have been on Good Morning America, the Tonight Show, Entertainment Tonight and everything in between. On Wednesday evening they jammed with Barenaked Ladies at a televised concert. Their night wasn’t over. After the concert, they hooked up by satellite to Larry King Live and answered questions from all over North America. Never before had there been a Winter Games in which silver medallists were the stars, the most sought-after athletes, the Olympic story. Their agent reports that he is averaging somewhere between 150 and 200 calls a day.” In Canada, the broadcast of the pairs long program was the most-watched 30 minutes in Canadian sports television since the 1994 Grey Cup game.

In a special moment, during the Tonight Show Jay Leno surprised the Canadians. “’I don’t know if I can make up for last night, but I do have something that will make you feel better,’ Leno said. ‘This is what you should have heard and seen last night.’ He then ran backstage to get a Canadian flag and the audience stood as the band played ‘O Canada’. ‘This flag will fly on our stage for the rest of the show tonight,’ said Leno.” The controversial judging decision was fuel for the late night comedians. “’Big snowstorm in Salt Lake City last night; did you see that? Man, I tell you, apparently visibility was down to zero. Maybe that’s why the figure-skating judges couldn’t see anything…’ and ‘You know what the problem is? It’s the exchange rate. Gold in Canada is only silver in the US…’”

Despite the support they received, the week was exhausting for both the skaters and their families. “’It’s been really hard this week,’ said Pelletier who enjoyed some time with his parents as they had lunch in the village. ‘It’s been hard for my family. My dad is very strong, and I’ve seen tears in his eyes this week. It’s hard because of the language barrier, they don’t really understand everything that is happening.’”

A Gold Medal Decision

As the skaters were doing media requests, allegations were made during the post-event judges meeting of misconduct in the judging of the pairs event. The controversy settled on the French judge who was reported to have admitted voting for the Russians as part of a vote-swapping plan under pressure from her federation. The French federation released the following statement: “‘Some people close to the judge have acted badly and have put someone who is honest and upright, but emotionally fragile, under pressure,’ Didier Gailhaguet said of Marie Reine Le Gougne (judge). ‘She is a fragile person and I think she has been somewhat manipulated.’”

With the judges admission, Skate Canada filled an appeal with the International Skating Union (ISU). Under pressure from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the ISU announced they would hold an internal investigation to examine the judging of the pairs event. Four days following the pairs long program, the IOC and ISU held a press conference to announce that Jamie Salé and David Pelletier would be awarded the gold medal, a shared gold medal with the Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

“The International Olympic Committee executive board decided to award Jamie Salé and David Pelletier from Canada a gold medal in the figure skating pairs competition today in Salt Lake City. Following a meeting with IOC president Jacques Rogge, International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta called an ISU council meeting last night, following the figure skating men’s free skate competition. The ISU Council decided to suspend Judge Marie Reine Le Gougne for misconduct and to recommend to the IOC executive board it also award a gold medal to Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. ‘This was an extraordinary deliberation of the ISU in the presence of a really extraordinary situation,’ said Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the skating union.”

Jamie Salé and David Pelletier spoke to the media during a press conference after they had received word of the announcement that they would be awarded the gold medal. Both appeared happy and relieved by the announcement. “‘The way I was starting to feel about the entire thing, I wanted to go down the skeleton ride without a helmet,’ Pelletier joked with the media. ‘Now I would put the helmet on. We’re truly honored that they awarded us a gold medal. We came here to do two great performances, personal best, to enjoy it and we did that. We were saying that half an hour after we skated, in our press conference, that we won the silver but had a gold medal performance. Now we have the gold medal. It’s forever.” When asked what they would do with the silver medals, David replied: “Actually, we do hope we get the bronze too, so we get the entire collection for our living room.”

Prime Minister Jean Chretien sent words of congratulations to Canada’s first gold medalists in figure skating in forty-two years. “The decision by the IOC merely confirms what we all knew in our hearts, that these two extraordinary young talents put on a gold medal performance for the world. Their performance was something truly special and we could not be happier than to know that they are receiving the recognition they so richly deserve. But this episode has been about much more than increasing Canada’s medal count. It is a triumph for the incredible sportsmanship and class that Jamie Salé and David Pelletier have shown in the face of an extraordinary situation. They are Olympians in the truest sense. They have done themselves, their families and their country proud.”

Gold Medal Ceremony

Following the announcement that a second gold medal would be awarded in the pairs event, the medal ceremony was held at the Olympic Ice Centre almost a week to the day of the pairs long program. As the crowd applauded, Jamie and David stepped onto the podium to receive their gold medals with the Russian pair, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. The Russian national anthem was played followed by ‘O Canada’ as the flags of the two countries were raised simultaneously. “‘It was really nice to hear ‘O Canada’ and see our flag raised. That was a moment I will remember forever,’ beamed Salé. ‘This was better than expected,’ Pelletier said. ‘I think the four of us were part of history and that’s something that is great for us. Obviously it was a tough few days but now we’re happy to put some closure to it and we can go on and be happy with our gold medal.’” Following the presentation of the medals, Salé and Pelletier posed for photos with the Russian gold medalists and they presented the Russians with small gifts. “‘Anton and Elena were involved in this against their will, and so were we,’ said Salé. ‘Just to show them that we appreciate the sportsmanship they showed throughout this entire thing, we thought it was nice to give them a little something from us.’”

Uncomfortable with the constant media attention, following the medal ceremony Jamie and David requested that the media turn their attention to focus on the other athletes who were competing in the Olympic Games. “‘These few days have been quite something I never thought I would experience in my life. Now, we just want to be normal Olympians,’ Salé said. ‘We want to go out, see some hockey, see some other events, enjoy the Olympic experience. We really haven’t been able to do that yet.’”

A Golden Homecoming

Returning home from the Olympic Games, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier announced their decision not to attend the World Championship in Japan one month later. “‘We wanted to do both the Olympics and the worlds, but this whole situation took a lot out of us,’ Salé said. ‘We need to come down.’” Instead of training for the world championship, the pair prepared for a show titled ‘A Golden Homecoming’ to celebrate their Olympic victory in Edmonton. With a cast of friends, Jamie and David were warmly received by their hometown crowd. “‘The hype of everything is huge. I’m surprised they’ve sold so many tickets. I was listening on the radio when they had a ticket contest and the winners were yelling like they’d won tickets to the Rolling Stones,’ said Pelletier.” Included in the cast of performers, the Russian Olympic gold medalists Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. “’It was unbelievable,’ said Anton Sikharulidze. “Even before I skated I could not remember this kind of reception. It was great. It was a lovely crowd and thank you very much.”’

With their season completed, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier took some time to make a few decisions about their future in the sport of figure skating. Having accomplished their goals of winning national, world, and Olympic titles, the pair announced that they had no plans to return to the world of competitive figure skating. Jamie and David have now embarked on a new life, as professional skaters. Signing a multi-year contract, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier plan to tour the United States and Canada with Stars on Ice while participating in other shows and professional competitions. Both skaters are looking forward to their new lives including touring, sponsorships, and public events. We wish them all the best.