Brian Joubert

Brian Joubert ( born September 20, 1984 in Poitiers, Poitou -Charentes ) is a French figure skater who starts in a single run. He is the 2007 World Champion and European Champion 2004, 2007 and 2009.

Personal

Brian Joubert was born on 20 September 1984 in Poitiers, son of Jean -Michel and Raymonde Joubert. At the age of eleven months he was suffering from a life threatening illness that led to the removal of a kidney. Because of his illness to Joubert decided later for figure skating instead for dangerous sports that he preferred actually. Brian Joubert ( he prefers the English pronunciation of his first name ) began at the age of four years, together with his two older sisters, with the ice skating. His sisters devoted themselves to ice dancing, but Joubert were particularly interested in the jumps and so he changed the discipline. Two years later, he was discovered by Véronique Guyon, where he learned the basics of figure skating.

Joubert had a brief relationship in 2004 with Lætitia Bléger, a former Miss France. He sued for 40,000 euros, after she had indicated that he was gay and had a relationship only arranged to hide this. Bléger and two newspapers that had printed it, were sentenced to pay 17,000 euros. Joubert later led a brief relationship with the Italian figure skater Valentina Marchei.

Joubert is a motor sports fan and loves animals, especially dogs.

In March 2006, Joubert published his first biography, " Le Feu sur la Glace ". A second book about him, entitled " Brian Joubert sur papier glacé ", was released in February 2010.

Joubert is committed to children suffering from Williams -Beuren syndrome and animal organizations.

Career

Joubert was not a particularly successful junior career. At the Junior World Championship in 2000, he finished 15th place.

2001 Joubert was third at the French Championships. This earned him a participation in the European and World Championships and the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. During his European Championship debut he won in Lausanne immediately awarded the bronze medal. He ended his World Cup debut in 13th place and its Olympic debut in 14th place.

Already in the next season Joubert was French champion for the first time. It was the first of six national titles in a row. He won his first Grand Prix competition with Skate America. He benefited from the injury-related task of Alexei Yagudin. Joubert first qualified for the Grand Prix Final and was able to win the bronze medal. In the 2003 European Championship in Malmo Joubert won the silver medal and finished the championship in sixth place. In the summer, he separated from his long-time coach Veronique Guyon. His new coach Laurent was Depouilly.

The big breakthrough came Joubert in 2004, when he became European Champion as reigning French champions in Budapest. It was the first title for France in the men's competition for 40 years and the first time since 1996 that no Russian was victorious. At the World Championships in Dortmund Joubert won silver behind Yevgeny Plyushchenko, whom he had defeated at the European Championship, his first world championship medal.

In January 2005, Joubert finished his collaboration with his coach Laurent Depouilly, who had just taken a year. The reason they gave to a disturbed relationship of trust. During this time he was also advised by the former Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin, who in turn ended the collaboration because he did not understand with Joubert's choreographer Nikolai Morozov. Joubert moved again in 2005 to his first coach Veronique Guyon, separated, however, very soon from her again because of disagreements. Andrej Berenzitsev became his new coach. 2005 Joubert could not defend his European title. He finished second behind Plyushchenko. At the World Cup, it was only enough for sixth place. In 2006, Joubert had to settle for the bronze medal at the European Championships behind Plyushchenko and Stéphane Lambiel. His second Olympic Games, where he had been touted as one of the favorites, he finished in sixth place in Turin. At the World Championships he won the silver medal behind Lambiel. After Joubert had worked together in the season 2005/ 06 with Andrej Berenzitsev, he was trained in October 2006 by Jean -Christophe Simond.

The 2006/2007 season was the most successful in Joubert's career. He won all the competitions in which he participated. He won the Cup of Russia and the Trophée Eric Bompard, thus qualified for the Grand Prix Final in Saint Petersburg and won this too. After he had become the fifth consecutive French masters, Joubert won the gold medal at the European Championships in Warsaw and was in Tokyo World Champion.

In the 2007 /08 season, Joubert won for the first time at Skate Canada but had to retire at the Trophée Eric Bompard due to illness. At the European Championships he won the bronze medal at the World Championships and the silver medal behind Jeffrey Buttle. 2008/ 09 he had qualified for the Grand Prix Final, but had to withdraw due to a back injury. Also at the national championships, he could not compete. He also replaced his free skating program with a new one in the middle of the season. Despite all this, he was in Helsinki for the third time in his career European champions. At the World Championships he led after the short program, but made mistakes in his free program and dropped to the bronze medal. After this disappointing result for him he parted from Jean -Christophe Simond and were again trained with his former coach Laurent Depouilly, however gave up his coaching job in May 2010. He hired then again Véronique Guyon as a trainer on.

In the 2009/10 season Joubert first won the NHK Trophy. He qualified for the Grand Prix Final, but was it because of a serious foot injury that required surgery, do not participate. He missed again, the national championships and many weeks of training. At the European Championships, he ran in the short program but a new personal best, fell by errors in the free skate, they fell to third place. Among his third Olympics Joubert went away again as favorites for the Olympic title. There he gave a disastrous performance and only reached the 16th place. He commented as follows: "It is once again a disappointment at the Olympic Games. These games have made me. I just can not at the Olympic Games. Every time it goes wrong. I do not know why. I can not explain it. "To be nominated for the World Championships, Joubert had even run a elimination. For the World Cup qualifying, but he made an impressive comeback. In the short program, he successfully landed a quadruple toe loop - triple toe loop combination, and finished this segment in third place. In the long program he was two more four times Toeloops, but made some minor errors, making it the bronze medal at the end. Joubert later said that he was very proud of this achievement and have achieved its main objective, which was to restore confidence.

In the 2010/11 season he had at the Trophée Eric Bompard due to gastroenteritis give up and therefore did not qualify for the Grand Prix Final. In the French championships but he was well again, winning his seventh title. At the European Championship 2011, he was after a bad short program only in seventh place, but then ran the best freestyle and thus secured himself nor the silver medal behind compatriot Florent Amodio. Thus Joubert had stood for the tenth time in a row at a European Championship on the podium. This was only succeeded Karl Schäfer in the period 1927-1936 before him. With a total of ten European medals Joubert also drew equal with Ulrich Salchow and Karl Schaefer, it also applied to ten medals.

At the World Championships in Moscow Joubert was weak in the short program as with the EM before, he made a mistake in a combination associated quadruple jump and landed on the ninth. Once again, then, he managed a strong showing in the freestyle, but this was not enough to bring him to the podium. He finished eighth and missed the first time since 2005 a World Championship medal. Already in the preparation for the World Cup Joubert had had problems with his left knee and it get injections, however, brought no relief. Joubert went to several specialists who dissuaded him from an operation when he did not want to jeopardize his jumping strength. That is why he opted for a strict diet and exercise program to restore its muscles again.

In the season 2011/12 Joubert was no Grand Prix competitions contest due to back problems. Although still struck, he took up at the French Championships and secured his eighth national title. At the European Championship but managed Joubert eighth for the first time in his career not to reach the podium. Things went better but at the world championships in Nice. Before the home crowd, he showed the best short program for two years and also achieved a personal best in the free skate and the overall performance. He was solid in both segments in leaps and remained free of falls. Only for two jumps he got in the freestyle deductions due to low rotation and incorrect landing. For his routine he returned to his best freestyle music to matrix. After the freestyle, which was borne by the euphoric home crowd, Joubert fell on his knees and kissed the ice. On his eleventh world championship is Joubert missed a seventh medal only because of the outstanding performance of Yuzuru Hanyū, fourth Frenchman, however, was the best European. He called the home World Cup as the highlight of his career and said that they want to continue.

In the 2012/13 season Joubert reported for the Cup of China and the Trophée Eric Bompard. After the short program at the Cup of China, he gave up because of abdominal pain and fever. Nevertheless, he had not yet fully recovered, he went the next competition again at the start and finished him in fourth place. Because the flu Joubert said from his participation in the French championships. At the European Championships he finished fourth. The world championship he finished in ninth place.

Technique and style

Joubert is known for his strong jumping ability. He has been a fourfold Salchow in competition and has a consistent quadruple toe loop. At the Cup of Russia 2006 Joubert landed three quadruple jumps in his freestyle. Joubert said in an interview that he considered important quadruple jumps for the future of figure skating as a sport. As Yevgeny Plyushchenko criticized Joubert that quadruple jumps are not sufficiently appreciated in the new evaluation system, the Code of Points.

According to the Japanese TV program " Miracle Body", Joubert's abdominal muscle is very strong, so he does not lose centrifugal force of rotation. A sports scientist at the University of Poitiers noticed that Joubert jump off in the best possible angle for quadruple jumps.

Joubert was criticized for the low diversity of his pirouettes, but has improved in this regard, since he cooperates with the Swiss Lucinda Ruh since 2005.

Joubert prefers a masculine style of running in the tradition of Elvis Stojko Alexei Yagudin and.