Jamie Salé

Jamie Salé (born April 21, 1977, in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian pairs figure skater currently partnered with David Pelletier.

Early career

Salé competed first as a singles skater, winning the novice bronze medal and placing and 8th in junior ladies at the Canadian Championships. In 1994, Salé won the short program and finished with the bronze medal in the junior event at the Canadian Championships. That same year, she achieved her biggest success to date by winning the senior bronze medal with her pairs partner, Jason Turner. They were named to the 1994 Canadian Olympic team and placed 12th at the Lillehammer Olympics. They placed 16th at the 1994 World Championships in Chiba, Japan, but ended their partnership that August.

Salé returned to singles skating. She placed 5th at the 1995 Canadian Championships, but struggled with injuries which caused her to withdraw from the 1997 championships. Salé returned in 1998 and skated a strong short program, but was only able to land one of five planned triples in her long program and placed 6th.

Skating with David

Salé had a tryout with David Pelletier in the summer of 1996, but it did not lead to a partnership. After her moderate success in singles, she decided to give pairs one last shot. Coach Richard Gaulthier, who was helping Pelletier find a partner, suggested Salé. He and Pelletier went 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 Pelletier.

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 Continent 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.

"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 won again, beating reigning World silver medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo. With such easy victories, 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 on to third. She again struggled, this time with her jumps, in the long program and they dropped off the podium to fourth place overall.

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 Wagner'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 Trophée 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 Salé 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.

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 Berezhnaia 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. The next day, the French judge Marie-Reine LeGougne 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, and LeGougne's vote was discarded, leaving the long program a tie. Salé and Pelletier were awarded 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. After two years of this system, the Code of Points was implemented and began use in the Grand Prix season of 2003-04, and full usage for all 2004-05 competitions and thereafter.

Since Salt Lake City

Since the Olympics, the pair has turned professional and are now touring North America with Stars on Ice, a popular figure skating show.

Jamie and David were engaged on Christmas Day (December 25), 2004 at their Edmonton, Alberta home and 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.

Competitive results

Olympic Winter Games

1994 – 12th place (Jason Turner)
2002 – 1st place (David Pelletier)

World Championships

1994 – 16th place (Jason Turner)
2000 – 4th place (David Pelletier)
2001 – 1st place (David Pelletier)

World Junior Championships

1995 - 12th place, singles

Four Continents Championships

2000 - 1st place (David Pelletier)
2001 - 1st place (David Pelletier)

Canadian Championships

1992 - 1st place, Junior (Jason Turner)
1993 - 4th place (Jason Turner)
1993 - 3rd place, Junior, singles
1994 – 3rd place (Jason Turner)
1995 – 5th place, singles
1998 – 6th place, singles
1999 – 2nd place (David Pelletier)
2000 – 1st place (David Pelletier)
2001 – 1st place (David Pelletier)
2002 – 1st place (David Pelletier)

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