Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Pair silent on program
By ROB BRODIE -- Ottawa Sun
As the victories and the honours continue to pile up, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier can feel the focus on their every move grow by the day.
That's been life, they'll tell you, since the title "world champions" was added to their resume last March in Vancouver.
Their latest honour -- the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's outstanding athletes for 2001 -- only figures to add to the scrutiny.
"Every decision we take now is being studied and analyzed," said Pelletier, 27, of Sayabec, Que., during a conference call yesterday.
"When we decided to change coaches, we had no idea it would have that kind of (impact). The decision we will take in the next week will be analyzed a lot ... I find that the most different thing for us (since winning the world title)."
The decision Pelletier was referring to, of course, was one of the hottest topics during the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Kitchener on the weekend -- whether to skate Love Story or Orchid as their free program at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, where they will be the gold-medal favourites.
And there was no answer forthcoming yesterday.
"We just came back (to Edmonton) on Monday morning," said Pelletier. "We'll be deciding that in the next week."
Not that others haven't tried to sway them already. Sale said it's part of the attachment Canadians have felt toward them during the past year, something else that's taken some getting used to.
"We have people watching us every step of the way ... it's like they want an in on what we're doing," said Sale, 24, of Red Deer, Alta. "Just today, I went to the (Royal Glenora) club and had people coming up to me saying 'Oh, you have to do Love Story, you have to do Love Story.'
"We've never had that before. But we can understand it when people feel that we're theirs and they want to be there for us."
It's such support that helps keep everything in perspective for Sale and Pelletier, who will be ready to go full speed toward the Canadian championships and Olympics after a four-day Christmas break. Although Pelletier admitted some childhood teasing helped put things in perspective early on.
"I always grew up with the complex of being a figure skater ... a few therapy sessions would have fixed that," he said with a laugh. "Friends would laugh at me, say 'You're in a girl's sport.' After all that, you never take yourself too seriously."
And you know how to stay focused. Asked if he'd done a lot of thinking about the couple's current eight-event winning streak, Pelletier said no.
"You know why? The only one that counts is No. 10."
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
