David Pelletier

David Jacques Pelletier ( born September 2, 1974 in Sayabec, Quebec ) is a former Canadian figure skater, who started the pair of running.

Early career

Pelletier had early success as a pair skater with his former partner Julie Laporte. You won the novice and junior titles of the Canadian Championship and the 7th place at the Junior World Championship in 1992.

Despite these successes, Pelletier felt his career needed a boost, so he separated from Laporte and Allison Gaylor took as a partner. They trained together with Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler and celebrated their biggest success in 1995 when they won the silver medal at the Canadian championships and thus were allowed to participate for Canada at the World Championships in Birmingham. There they occupied the 15th place.

In the same year Pelletier / Gaylor occupied surprising second place in the short program at the Canadian championships. In the free skate they fell after a Strauchler back to fourth place overall.

After it did not make Pelletier and Gaylor in the next two years on a podium finish, they parted and Pelletier found in the young runner Caroline Roy a new partner. Shortly before the Canadian Championships in 1998 died Pelletier's former running mate Julie Laporte in a car accident. Pelletier and Roy delivered a strong performance, but only ended up in sixth place and separated shortly after the competition again.

Work with Salé

Pelletier asked his coach Richard Gauthier for help in finding a new partner and Gault Here recommended Jamie Salé. They traveled in February 1998 for a trial with Salé to Edmonton. "Even as the first time we shook hands it was great," said Pelletier and Salé already a month later moved to Montreal to run ice around with him.

The Canadian Figure Skating Association invited them to participate, at Skate Canada in 1999 where they pass through a second place in the short program - the and a third in the free skate and the associated profit - even before the reigning Canadian Champions Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz bronze medal went immediately noticed. Due to this success, they were invited to the NHK Trophy in Japan, where they won bronze again.

Their recent successes made ​​them favorites for the Canadian title, but they made technical errors and ended the competition in second place. This silver medal earned them starting places at the Four Continents Championships and the World Cup a, because of back pain in Pelletier, however, they had to cancel both events. Then both took a break of two months.

"Love Story"

In the summer of 1999 dedicated Gault Here Lori Nichol, a very successful Canadian choreographer who was particularly known for her work with the U.S. skater Michelle Kwan. She created a playful tango for the short program and - after a recommendation from the coach Marijane Stong - a free program to the music of the film Love Story, composed by Francis Lai.

The program was an immediate success. At Skate America in 1999, they won a sensational against the reigning two times world champions and winners of the Olympic silver medal Jelena Bereschnaja and Anton Sikharulidze the short program as well as the freestyle. At their second Grand Prix appearance, the Nations Cup, they finished second behind the Russians Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov. Through this solid result they qualified for the final of the Grand Prix. However, some error in both programs brought them in the end only the disappointing fifth place, although their jumps and lifting figures constitute major highlights.

In 2000 she took part in the Canadian Championships in Salés hometown Calgary, where they were given five times the perfect score of 6.0 for a very strong and almost flawless short program - the first time that a pair achieved this at the Canadian championships. They got a further 6.0 and thus the gold medal at the Four Continents Championships in Osaka Japan.

It was followed by the World Cup 2000 in Nice. Salé made ​​in the short program a blunder in a pirouette, but they were still a third party. In the freestyle but stumbled again, this time at the jumps, and they ended up at the end on the fourth place in the overall standings.

The victory in Vancouver

Salé and Pelletier worked for their program 2000/2001 again with Lori Nochol. They devised a jazz choreography to the song " Come Rain or Come Shine " and a dramatic Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. In the autumn they went again at Skate Canada and Skate America, where they won before each of the pairs Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo and Jelena Bereschnaja / Anton Sikharulidze. Just then they were subject Bereschnaja / Sikharulidze at the Trophée Lalique.

The couple celebrated at the Canadian Championships in 2001 in Winnipeg again a great success, but was five times " he 6.0 ", the "Love Story" earned them the year before, not repeat them. They won again the Four Continents in Salt Lake City, although Salé could not perform clean their triple Toeloops in all three phases of the competition.

The world championship in figure skating was held in 2001 in Vancouver, Canada, instead. Salé and Pelletier were heavy favorites to win the title. After problems in the short program they first landed in third place, but a nearly perfect freestyle earned them the overall victory at the end of a. They were thus the first Canadian pair since Brasseur / Eisler 1993 could be the World Champion in pair skating and the first Canadian pair since Barbara Underhill / Paul Martini 1984, which abolished this in their own country.

Olympic hopefuls

Salé and Pelletier decided in the 2001/2002 season with their new program to " Adiago Sostenuno " by Rachmaninov again the competitions Skate America and Skate Canada with technical consistency in both competitions for themselves.

The final of the Grand Prix, which in Kitchener, Ontario, took place, was particularly important for the two, since it represented the first and only chance to test their programs against strong competition before the Olympic Games began in Salt Lake City. Despite a streaky first freestyle with " orchid " they managed in the second round to win with an almost flawless run to "Love Story" competition. So you went into the finals of the Canadian Championship in 2002 in Hamilton with great confidence, which consists of the triumph against their biggest rivals, Bereschnaja / Sikharulidze resulted. They won the title despite a less than optimum freestyle, which meant that rumors arose, they would change jobs to the Winter Games back to " Love Story".

The pressure before the games was high. Canada had indeed been able to win some silver and bronze medals at the Winter Olympics, but only two gold medals (1948 and 1960). All of Salé and Pelletier expected that they would end the losing streak and the 40 -year-long Russian dominance. The short program was to a small slip smoothly into the finishing position. Because of small errors did not occur in an element of the dance, he was not punished with point deduction. He hurt the program, but in such a way that there was only enough to place 2 behind Bereschnaja / Sikharulidze after the short program. Well it arrived on the freestyle.

After the Russians were constantly Salé and Pelletier with an expressive freestyle to "Love Story", the commentators as well as inspire the audience. A small error in the jump of Sikharulidze and a clean appearance of the Canadians had the most convincing: Canada would win gold.

But it was not so far, because when the judges announced their points, Salé and Pelletier were only on the second Kürrang. Five judges had seen the front Bereschnaja / Sikharulidze, four Salé / Pelletier. This result led to an outcry in the North American media and large parts of the audience, the two athletes, however, accepted the silver medal. The next day the French judge Marie -Reine price LeGougne admitted to have been under massive pressure. Your voice for the Russians should follow in return a voice for the French ice dance pair Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat. This scandal caused the suspension of certain judges and officials and for the cancellation of scoring LeGougnes. This created a stalemate and Salé / Pelletier was also awarded a few days later a gold medal.

This controversy led after the Games to numerous changes in the scoring system. First, the vote was anonymous in order to reduce the external pressure on the judges. One could no longer assign particular the scoring. After two years with this system, a new points system was introduced for the 2004/2005 season.

After Salt Lake City

After the Games, the 2002 Salé and Pelletier turned professional and traveled for several years with Stars on Ice, a popular Eistanzshow through North America. They married on 30 December 2005.

In early 2006, commenting on the USA Network at the Winter Games in Turin some skating competitions. Pelletier 's athlete ambassador of development organization Right to Play.

Results

Pair of running

( with Jamie Salé )

( with Caroline Roy )

( with Allison Gaylor )

( with Julie Laporte )

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