David PELLETIER

David Pelletier began his figure skating pairs career with Julie Laporte and together they won novice and junior titles at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. In 1994 he began skating with Allison Gaylor and they placed 8th at that year’s senior Canadian Championships. In 1995 they were runners up at that tournament (and Pelletier placed 4th in the singles event) and placed 15th at the World Championships, but then placed 5th and 6th at the next two Canadian Championships and split up. Next, Pelletier paired up with Caroline Roy for the 1998 Canadian Championships, but the duo placed 6th and then split. Shortly before the tournament his former partner Laporte was killed in a car accident. Finally, he joined with his future wife Jamie Salé, whom he had tried out with once previously in 1996, and together they placed 2nd at the 1999 Canadian Championships, but pulled out of the World Championships due to Pelletier’s back pain.

Salé and Pelletier returned in full swing in 2000, winning the Canadian Championships with a record five perfect scores from the judges, and coming in 4th at the World Championships. The following year they took a second Canadian Championship victory and a World Championship and jointly earned the Lou Marsh Trophy, given annually to Canada’s top athlete. In preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympics, the duo won another Canadian Championship that year, but they knew that they would have serious competition against the Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. Although the Canadians put on a flawless routine, the judges voted 5-4 in favor of the Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, leaving Salé and Pelletier with silver. Several days later it was revealed that a French judge that had voted for the Russians had been pressured into her decision in exchange for Russian judges favoring the French ice dance team. A decision was made to award both duos the gold medal in the tournament. After the Olympics Salé and Pelletier began to skate professionally with Stars on Ice and, in addition, served as commentators during (among other figure skating events) the 2006 Winter Olympics. With Salé, he was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2009.