Jamie Salé & David Pelletier skate at Rockefeller Rink

On Friday, March 7, Olympic pairs champions Jamie Salé and David Pelletier (see right) skated at Rockefeller Center Skating Rink for NBC's Today show. In addition to winning the 2002 Olympics, Jamie and David are also the 2001 World champions and three-time Canadian champions (2000-2002). Theirs is a true, classic love story. They began skating together in 1998 (after being with different parters, and Jamie also pursuing a singles career) and immediately began making their mark in international competitions, placing first in Worlds, Four Continents, Grand Prix Finals, Skate America, Skate Canada, and many others. Who knows when each realized that they had found their partner in life as well? Jamie and David were engaged in December 2004 and got married on December 30, 2005. Jesse Joe was born on September 30, 2007.

For those of you too young to remember (or have short-term memory), the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City was, in part, memorable because Jamie and David did not win the gold immediately after the pairs competition. They skated to Love Story (very appropriate), gave a flawless performance, and I still get chills when I watch their long program (link to program). An investigation later revealed that there was bribing at the judges table, and Jamie and David received scores that were lower than they should have been, which gave them the silver. I remember clearly the headlines in the newspapers the following day: You wuz robbed! Skategate! and Scandal on Ice! After an investigation, Jamie and David shared the gold, along with Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, and the rest is history. But you know what was also memorable about the whole ordeal? Their grace and professionalism during the media frenzy. You didn't hear word one from them about how unfair the process was or how unhappy they felt about the results. What I also remember clearly back then was that a lot of parents were using Jamie and David as an example to their children about good sportsmanship and taking life's challenges in stride.

Currently, Jamie and David are touring with Stars on Ice in the U.S. and Canada. At Rockefeller Rink, they performed a beautiful program to Josh Groban's Thankful. Lastly, I just have to add, that Jamie gave birth to Jesse Joe about five months ago and was back on the ice THREE WEEKS after giving birth. Wow...

Comments

[Jax]

Love Jamie and David. Thanks for the warm-up, sometimes that's more interesting than anything else. Interesting that they don't do full lifts, death spirals, or spins for the run through.

[Liz001]

What a great song for them too.

[Femme]

Thanks for posting. It's hard to get the Today show here. I'm gonna see them when they start the SOI Canada.

[Aaron Harris]

Just love me some David and Jamie! I remember Ross the Intern on Leno's "The Tonight Show" interviewing them after the whole thing went down and it was the funniest thing ever.

[Susan from Lifeskate]

Aaron - What was the Ross the Intern interview like? I love Ross -- he is HILARIOUS and so genuine about it. Do you remember the questions or the funniest moments? I know it's been only, like, 5+ years ago, but you still remember it, so it must have been really funny. I wish they had it on youtube...

[Aaron Harris]

He was more mad about the situation then they were. He asked them if they were mad and then he just starts spouting off "i'm p$%#$, i'm p@#$@#." And he kept wondering how they were so calm about the whole thing. Then on the set of the Tonight Show Jay brought out all these Canadian flags and played "O Canada," it was great. This has to be on YouTube somewhere!

[Nickey]

Terrific post! So informative. I had forgotten about the 2002 "skate-gate" incident, which is a testament to Jamie's and David's professionalism. They really are a class act. And of course Jesse is beautiful. . . with those genes, there was never a choice!