Canadian pair believes skating is in deep freeze

(March 14, 2003) - The Olympic gold medals they received 13 months ago following the scandal that rocked the figure skating world are locked away in a safe deposit box back in Edmonton, Alberta.

"We don't bring them with us on tour because we don't want to lose them again," Jamie Sale jokes.

There is truth in her jest.

Sale and pairs partner David Pelletier lost the gold the first time at the Salt Lake City Games two Februarys ago when a French judge was pressured into voting for Russian skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

After intense media scrutiny and an investigation by the International Olympic Committee, a wrong was righted and gold medals were awarded to both the Russian and Canadian skaters.

The grace and dignity Sale and Pelletier displayed during the controversy won them legions of fans worldwide.

It also landed them on the sets of Letterman and Leno and the covers of Newsweek and Time.

"It's strange how things work out, but if the scandal hadn't occurred, we wouldn't be as well-known as we are," says Sale, who will perform with Pelletier on Saturday night when the Smucker's Stars on Ice Tour comes to the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

"We'll be in a mall or a restaurant or a hotel lobby and people will point at us and say, 'Hey you're those Canadian skaters.'

And, then, they usually follow that with, 'We're so glad that justice was served."

Justice may have been served during the Olympics, but more than a year later the sport's judging system remains mired in controversy.

A revolution hasn't occured; just more of the same. Accusations of bias persist, and Sale and Pelletier believe the dark cloud is having a negative impact on skating's popularity.

"It's sad to see," Pelletier says. "It's not the way it was. The (television) ratings are down. Attendance is down. I don't care what the sport is, people don't want to go to something they believe is fixed."

The gold-medal duo believes true reform won't occur until all corrupt judges are removed and the governing bodies start seeking the input of skaters and coaches, past and present.

"We've turned pro, so it doesn't directly affect us any more," Sale says. "But we have many friends in the amateur ranks and we feel badly for them."

One of the appeals of skating professionally is that Sale and Pelletier no longer are beholden to judges.

They are performing rather than competing; their judges are the spectators.

"I started competing at age seven and did that for the next 20 years," Pelletier says. "I don't miss it at all. I think this is the most fun I've ever had skating. You still have to go out and put on a good show because people have paid to come and see you. But there is more joy and less stress in this."

Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze perform on the same tour, and that has given the Canadian skaters an opportunity to get to know their former skating rivals as people rather than competitors.

"It's difficult when you are competing because you are both after the same goal," Sale says. "But the tour is a noncompetitive situation.