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2000 - 2001 Season A New Season Following the world championship, Jamie and David took some time to reflect on the past season. "It was a very hard time for me. I really felt like a failure. It was a big blow because we knew the door was open and it was our chance to get a medal. Because we were so consistent all year, I couldn't figure out what happened to me - I wasn't too nervous, I wasn't unprepared, I wasn't exhausted, everything was going the way it was supposed to go and 'bang' it was gone." In time, it became apparent to David that Jamie was having difficulty moving past her performance in Nice. "For me, because everything was fine the next day, she should have been fine. So it took me a while to see that she was not doing that great. By May, I said 'Ok what's the deal here. It happened a month ago so lets go on.'" To move forward, the pair decided to see a sport psychologist. "Maybe it's because there had been so much hype for us all season, maybe it would have been a letdown even if we had we won. But I wondered, 'Why did this happen to me?' Then I realized that I'm human. I started thinking about other Canadian skaters who have been through this kind of disappointment - Kurt Browning, Barb Underhill and Paul Martini. And then it occurred to me that this season and next, not last, are our major goals. That's how I was able to let it go." In preparation for the next season, Lori Nichol was again consulted to choreograph two new programs. "'We were very concerned about how we were going to top the success of Love Story. When we talked with Lori about our new programs, she asked us to trust her.' said Salé. 'And that's what we did,' adds Pelletier." The music chosen for the short program was a jazzy version of the Frank Sinatra classic Come Rain or Come Shine while the long program was choreographed to the music from the opera Tristan and Isolde by Wagner. "The long program, a fable not unlike Romeo and Juliet, is far more mature than Love Story, and even a little dark. 'I'm going to get her from my uncle, who is about to marry her,' Pelletier explains. 'She resists, but eventually we drink a poisoned potion, fall in love, and we die, together. Love Story made people cry,' - and it did, many times, in many countries. 'This won't make you cry, but it might give you goosebumps.''' Choreographer Lori Nichol admitted that it was a challenge to create a program to follow the success of Love Story. "It was difficult to know which direction to go after Love Story. But I've been through this before, and I realized that it can never be the same again. Nothing replaces the first time you saw your husband. Nothing ever replaces the first of anything. You can't replace it, but you can always do the best you can in a different way. I've been listening to the music of Tristan and Isolde for years now, waiting for the day I would have someone who could skate to it. When I was driving, I would park my car and listen to the very end - daydreaming about the program. I believe that Jamie and David have suffered through enough highs and lows in their lives that they could understand the music. If they can stand up to a strongly classical European piece of music, it will speak volumes about them." In this pre-Olympic season, expectations were very high for the Canadian champions. "Without hesitation, coach Richard Gauthier says Salé and Pelletier can win both the world championship and the Olympic Games. The skaters agree, though Pelletier slaps his forehead in mock horror when hearing the outspoken confidence of Gauthier. 'Richard's not wrong, we have that potential,' Salé said. 'It's not beyond our reach. The Olympics are what we're shooting for, but we'd like to win in Vancouver to set us up. I think 2001 will be a special year for us.''' Life After Love Story In October, Jamie and David returned to Colorado Springs for their first competition of the new season, Skate America. With the events of the previous world championship on her mind, Jamie enjoyed a small personal victory in the short program when she landed the triple toe-loop. "Salé admitted, 'I was really far back on my skate and I felt like I was almost going to fall.' But she held her ground, which was at least a moral victory." With a strong long program, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier won the event, defeating the world silver medalists Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China. One week later, Salé and Pelletier competed at Skate Canada where they faced their strongest competition of the preseason - the two most recent world pair champions. Not unsettled by the competition, Jamie and David were second behind two-time world champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze after the short program. '''It doesn't intimidate us anymore,' said Salé. 'Now we're at a place where we feel we're with the best in the world.''' With a strong long program, Jamie and David moved ahead of the Russians to win their second Grand Prix event in as many weeks. Jamie discussed their performance after the event: "'We feel extremely good. We wanted to skate better than last week and I think we accomplished that.' However Pelletier added: ''We're very tired. It's been an emotional two weeks for us. It's nice to win back to back, but our focus is on March (the world championships). I'm very happy, but let's take this one thing at a time.''' Following a second place performance at Trophy Lalique (where the pair finished behind Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze) and a win at the Canadian Open, Salé and Pelletier took some time off at Christmas before returning to the ice to prepare for the upcoming national and world championship. Riding a Wave In January, Jamie and David arrived in Winnipeg for the national championship after a week training with Jamie's former coaches at the Royal Glenora Club in Edmonton. Expected to defend their title easily, their competitor Kris Wirtz was quoted in the paper saying: "The only way that Jamie Salé and David Pelletier will not win the gold medal is if they miss the bus and the plane." In Winnipeg, Salé and Pelletier successfully defended their national title with a less-than-perfect performance that did not earn the string of 6.0's they had enjoyed the year before. "'I'm not disappointed. We have to look at the big picture,' said Pelletier. 'I don't like to bring up the past but last year was the best nationals. Obviously, this year is not as good. We don't want to use any excuses, but Jamie has been very sick for two days, and I'm just proud of the way she handled everything.'" Following the national championship, Jamie and David traveled to Salt Lake City to compete in the Four Continents Championship where they delivered two clean performances and won the event. Jamie and David were very pleased with their performance as they looked to the world championship just weeks away. "The way I skated, there in Salt Lake in the same arena we will skate in next year at the Olympics, it was very overwhelming. Going into worlds, I feel very confident and I feel good about the year we've had. Every time we've won this year, I've been thinking that would feel amazing - hearing our anthem in Vancouver at the world championship." Before the world championship, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier had one more competition, the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, Japan. A unique competition, the Grand Prix Final consists of skaters who have earned the most points in the preseason competitions. The competition has a different format in which the skaters perform their short program and two different long programs. This meant the return of Love Story - the long program that had earned tremendous response from crowds and judges the previous season. Following their performance, Jamie said: '' It felt really good. We were really enjoying it. It's obviously nerve racking since we haven't done it since worlds last year. We've only done about four run-throughs. It was really fun, easy to get into the program, and the audience really loves it." Fueling discussion, Jamie had difficulty with the triple toe-loop in all three rounds of competition at the Grand Prix Final. Despite their clean performances in Salt Lake City, Jamie was beginning to voice frustration in her struggle with the jump. "I've been fighting really hard this week. It's hard sometimes when you have something that's holding you back. It's hard to make yourself believe you can do it." In her commentary, Tracy Wilson was very candid. "They won the first freeskate without the side-by-side triples however Jamie has obviously got a problem with the triple toe. Whatever strategy she is has been using to train that triple has got to be changed going into the world championship because it's obviously not working for her - 0/3 in this competition." With a month before the world championship, Jamie and David returned to Canada to prepare for their biggest competition of the year - the world championship at home in Vancouver. World Champions The world championship in Vancouver was the first to be held in Canada since 1996. The last time Vancouver hosted the world championship, in 1960, the pairs event was won by Canadians Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul. In the crowd this year, Jamie and David had a many family and friends supporting them. "'I think there were over 100 relatives of mine here tonight from Alberta,' Salé said." The weeks before the world championship were not without difficulty. "'After we came home from Japan, a fire burned through the wall of our condominium. So we're homeless. Then my car got stolen. That made me car-less,' Pelletier commented. 'It has been a tough week and a half',' Salé choked." Despite their personal tragedy, David maintained his ever-present sense of humor. "My friend told me he will leave his bicycle at the airport for me. I said I don't need it, my suitcase has wheels." In the short program, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier opened with their always successful throw triple loop but Jamie had difficulty with the side-by-side triple toe-loop. Their marks ranged from 5.4-5.6 for technical merit and 5.8-5.9 for presentation. Following the short program, Jamie and David were third - meaning that any of the top three teams could win the event if they win the long program. It was exactly the same position they were in after the short program last year. Skating before a home crowd, both skaters admitted that it was more overwhelming than they imagined. "'The short was very intimidating,' Salé said. 'I actually got kind of scared. When they called our names and we went to center ice, it was kind of 'Wow'.'" David joked: "Obviously having 17,000 people behind you is better than in front of you. When you get on the ice and you have all these people behind you, it's hard to describe, but I love it. We both love it. It's perfect." "Last year at worlds, we were third after the short. We had a shot at winning the worlds. Then, you wake up the morning of the long program and it's like, `Wow, this is it. This is the day I can be world champion.' Last year, we were not ready for that." The day of the long program, Jamie - the more superstitious skater of the pair - was looking for a sign of things to come."That day, I couldn't eat because I was so nervous. I didn't sleep at all the night before because I was seeing the triple toe-loop and double axel. I had been thinking of Barb Underhill since we've been here, I don't know why, maybe because they were the last to win in Canada. Anyway, we were sitting outside drinking a juice on the street when Barb came around the corner. Earlier this week, I said a little prayer. I said 'Give me a sign God, please give me a sign' and I think that was my sign. We talked and after she left us I was shaking because she did something to me. When I went to the rink I had too much energy. I said to Dave: 'I'm on a mission today' and he said 'Yeah, me too, but not until 6:00.'" Their long program, performed before a sold-out audience, was breathtaking. In the opening moments of the program, Jamie landed a strong side-by-side triple toe-loop and the crowd roared with excitement. The only mistake was a single axel by Jamie which she admitted was her mistake because she got excited and lost her focus. As the skaters moved from one element to the other, they found it difficult to concentrate on their program. In the interview, Jamie admitted: "I couldn't stop smiling. Every time we would do a few elements I would smile at him but I could tell that he was very focused. I was just so excited that it was going so well." David laughed: "'Yeah, I look at her smiling and she's supposed to be dying,' while Jamie offered, 'I couldn't help it, I was too excited.'" As the program ended and the pair took their final position, Jamie repeated 'Oh my God' again and again as if in disbelief of what had just happened. They left the ice to be taken into the arms of their coaches before moving to the kiss and cry area. As the marks came up, technical merit marks were 5.6-5.9 and their marks for presentation were were 5.9's across the board. Unable to contain their emotions, David later admitted "I know now why they call it the kiss and cry." Following an emotional medal ceremony, Jamie and David were greeted at ice level to share special moments with their parents. In interviews following the event, both skaters had difficulty describing their feelings. "The feeling of doing it in front of the crowd at home with all of the pressure was just unbelievable. It was all red and white in the stands and people were screaming. If there's one place to do it, it's here in Canada." David was particularly emotional: "You're asking me, on the best day of my life, to try and put 20 years of skating into one word. Twenty years of hard work and 20 years of ups and downs ... It's hard to describe, there are so many things in my head right now. This is the best day of my life.'' On Top of the World Following their win, Jamie and David had little time to celebrate their world championship success. Immediately after the event, the pair left to tour the United States with Champions on Ice. Jamie and David then returned home to perform in a show in Jamie's hometown of Red Deer, Alberta. "'I just once want to come home and not cry,'' Salé told the crowd. 'I always end up crying. This is so amazing. I am so honored that you are so proud of us. I've been training in Montreal and to come back home and to know you still think of me the same way ... I'm so proud to be home and I love you all.'" David was also honored later in the summer with a parade in his hometown of Sayabec, Quebec where the local arena had been named after him earlier that year. At the event in Red Deer, David joked, "'I think they should name an arena after her, but who am I to tell that to the mayor,' smiled Pelletier. 'I know how important it is to skate in your home town. Last year we did it in my home town when they named a rink after me. It's a special feeling. I would like Jamie to have that feeling.'" While in Alberta, Jamie and David also attended a reception held in their honor at the Royal Glenora Club in Edmonton where a banner bearing their names was raised with the other world champions who had also trained at the club. "'When I trained here, I used to look up at those banners and tell myself that one day I'd have my own banner up there,' Salé said. 'Those banners are very good motivation for kids coming up.'" Pelletier was especially honored by the reception. "I think it's more special for me. Growing up a kid in Quebec, hearing about the Royal Glenora Club with Kurt Browning. He was my hero ... You look at the banners here, Kurt Browning, Kristi Yamaguchi ... now my name is on a banner and I just can't believe that. I just found my way into the club and now my name is on one of those banners. All because of Jamie!" Within a short period of time, life had changed significantly for Jamie and David. "'I can see that my life has changed. It's easy to notice,' says Pelletier. 'When we were in New York with Champions on Ice, we were supposed to have three days off, but we were busy all three days.'" Featured on the cover of Macleans magazine the week after the world championship, Jamie and David gave television interviews and made many personal appearances. "''There are so many offers being thrown in our faces, including a documentary,' Pelletier said. 'I'm really not looking forward to doing a documentary on my life because I have a pretty boring life. We really don't know why people want to do such a story on us. What can you say, I get up in the morning, I train, I do my program, I compete and I do my best. How many people are going to watch that?'" In addition to their newfound celebrity status, Jamie and David had an extremely successful season financially. Keeping everything in perspective, David joked with one reporter: "Pelletier says he's getting a big kick out of everybody mentioning so much about the money they've made lately. 'It's still less than the worst-paid guy in the NHL.' Maybe. But after what happened at the world championship, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier could walk down any street in Canada with any one of a couple hundred guys in the NHL and people would be asking 'Who's that with Jamie and David?'" A Homecoming In June, as they began their preparation for the 2002 Olympic season, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier announced that they were leaving coach Richard Gauthier to move to Edmonton and train with Jamie's former singles coach Jan Ullmark at the Royal Glenora Club. The move, just months after their win at the world championship and less than a year before the Olympic Games, created a flurry of media attention. A statement released by Richard Gauthier claimed that Jamie wanted to return to Edmonton to be near her family. Salé and Pelletier denied that homesickness was the cause of the split but refused to discuss the situation in any detail. 'It was not so much homesickness as other issues that arose with Gauthier - very real issues they have chosen to keep confidential out of respect for themselves and their former coach - that got them thinking about a change about the time they returned to Montreal from a month-long North American tour. 'Obviously there were other reasons than homesickness,' said Pelletier. 'We explained the reasons to Richard. There are a lot of them, and he understood what he had to understand. The decision to move took a lot of thinking, we didn't do this overnight. But I sleep well at night, knowing we did what we had to do.'" Their new coach Jan Ullmark admitted that the skaters talked to him a while back about making such a move. "I advised them not to leave Montreal in the Olympic year. I didn't know they were interested in coming here until they phoned. They said 'We've decided and we're coming to you.''' Jamie and David's goals in working with Ullmark were to work on the their individual skating elements and increase their speed. Jamie confessed that the decision was difficult. "Dave and I lost sleep over this decision, so much has been in our heads the past two weeks. I was exhausted. We have been very happy working with Richard and he was instrumental in our success to date. He's a great guy and we respect each other. Hopefully we'll remain friends. But now that I'm here, even with all the hype, I still feel more relaxed and ready to train." When the media attention decreased, the pair were able to really begin their work with Ullmark. "'It's great for Jamie to be here. She has a comfort zone here. Jan is like a second dad to her,' Pelletier said. 'We were not comfortable anymore to train where we were. We had a different philosophy about things. This is about looking ahead. If we wanted to improve our skating, I believe we had to come here.'" In fun, David joked about the move to Edmonton. "David Pelletier has two minor complaints about life in his newly adopted home of Edmonton: 'The Eskimos aren't winning, and I miss speaking French. Other than that, everything has been positive. The facilities are amazing for us, our programs are going great - and there's no traffic. It's amazing how much energy you save by not spending 21/2 hours in a car every day.' For Salé, who forever wears a smile as big as Alberta's great outdoors, this is a homecoming. Five days a week she's back with Ullmark on the familiar ice of the Royal Glenora, among family and friends. 'I knew it would be good here, but it's maybe even better than I thought it would be. Everything is working out really well.'" Before moving to Edmonton, Jamie and David spent time with Lori Nichol to create their Olympic programs. Their short program, a tango titled Jealousy, was created with the assistance of world champion Kurt Browning. For Jamie and David, it was a wonderful experience to work with the four-time world champion. "'We were a little bit nervous because we weren't sure of how it was going to work. He's a singles skater and I'd never seen him work with anybody' Salé said. She knew Browning from the Royal Glenora Club and though Pelletier had encountered Browning many times, he had never sat down to talk to him. 'It was like a first date,' Pelletier said. 'It was like 'So, what T-shirt should I wear [for the session]?' He was an inspiration.' Louis Stong, Browning's former coach, helped to set up of the meeting. 'They were just knocked out,' said Stong. 'David just could not believe it. Later, he kept saying, 'Oh my God, I can't believe what happened.'" The long program was choreographed to 'Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. The new programs will be performed for the first time at Skate America in October.
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Jamie Salé: Music History
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