CANOE 2002 Games - Team Canada


Skate Canada	Date of Birth: 21/04/77
	Place of Birth: Calgary, AB
	Residence: Edmonton, AB
	Height: 5'0"
	Weight: 103 lbs
	Years on National Team: 9

Jamie Salé knows all about the highest highs and lowest lows for a top-level athlete. The success she and her pairs partner David Pelletier currently enjoy appears almost to have happened overnight.

The Salt Lake City Games will be the second Olympics for Salé. She competed at age 16 at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics with former partner Jason Turner. She then quit pairs and switched to singles. She struggled with injuries and also worked as a waitress to earn some extra cash.

"When I quit pairs I thought it was never going to happen," she said. "I was very discouraged over a long period of time."

Salé and Pelletier first competed together in 1998 at Skate America and placed third. By the following season they were already among the world's best winning Skate America and Four Continents Championships. They capped the 1999-2000 season by placing fourth at the world championships with their wildly popular Love Story routine.

Then it all came together last season at the world championships in Vancouver with the beautiful Tristan and Isolde long program. The Canadians took gold in one of the closest pairs competition in recent history edging Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, the world champs in 1998 and 1999.

Their routines for this season will also have a romantic flavor. The short program is a sizzling tango called La Jalousie and the long program are excerpts from Rachmaninoff's passionate Piano Concerto #2.

What Jamie Salé Did
Feb. 15: Jamie Sale, Red Deer, Alta., and David Pelletier, Sayabec, Que., awarded gold medal in skating controversy over judging marks.
Feb. 11: Jamie Sale, Red Deer, Alta., and David Pelletier, Sayabec, Que., won silver medal
Feb. 9: Jamie Sale, Red Deer, Alta., and David Pelletier, Sayabec, Que., finished second of 20 pairs in short program

Jamie Salé Pictures