Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Cheers not enough!
A crying shame: Sale and Pelletier win our hearts, but not the gold
By AJAY BHARDWAJ -- Edmonton Sun
While her heartbroken relatives watched in Edmonton, pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier traded a good-as-gold performance for silver at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City last night.
Some 250 of Sale's friends and family gathered at the Royal Glenora Club, 11160 Rivervalley Rd., and held their breath through five white-knuckle minutes, as they watched the duo try for Canada's first figure skating pairs gold medal in 42 years.
"They were robbed," said a teary Penny Gill, Sale's aunt, shortly after the pair took silver.
"We're disappointed for them. Many times Jamie and David have been given the extra points by the judges. This time the judges gave the Russians the extra marks."
One of Sale's uncles said he's convinced the performance given by the Red Deer native and Pelletier, who's from Quebec, was more than worth the gold.
"It was a golden skate," said Lewis Semashkewich, shrugging.
Other Edmonton spectators said the duo at least proved Canada's mettle in pairs skating, after decades of disappointment.
"I think they won in their hearts and that's all that matters," said Lindsay McCaustlin, 15, a skater who trains at Glenora.
"They skated clean and they can be proud of that," said Lori Ashton, another of Sale's aunts.
"I'm not really disappointed because they got silver and that's quite an accomplishment," said Rex Ashton, another of Sale's uncles.
"The way they skated I thought they broke the drought. The judges didn't think so."
During the warm-up routine, when Sale collided with a Russian skater, an anguished hush fell over the room.
The Russians have won every gold medal in the pairs program since 1960, the last year Canadians took gold.
But Sale and Pelletier had a streak of their own going into last night's final. They'd won 10 straight events, including the Worlds in Vancouver, where the Russian team finished second.
The reigning world champions trailed the Russian pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who won the silver medal at the Nagano Olympics in 1998.
Sale and Pelletier performed their signature routine to the theme from the film Love Story.
The nearly five-minute program has received rave reviews.
On Saturday night, in the short program, the two Royal Glenora Club skaters fell to the ice at the end of their routine. Although Pelletier was upset about dropping Sale, the pair felt they still had a shot at winning gold.
Proud Canadians, Sale and Pelletier chose to march in with their teammates Friday night, even though they had to skate Saturday evening.
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
