Sale, Pelletier confirmed for tour

Jamie Sale and David Pelletier are back in the figure skating spotlight.

The Olympic pairs co-champions, who have made only a handful of on-ice appearances since their Edmonton homecoming show last spring, are in Lake Placid, N.Y., putting finishing touches to routines they will perform on the Stars On Ice tour which opens a U.S. run Saturday.

They will briefly slip away from that tour Dec. 6-7 to compete for the first time since last February's Winter Games in the Sears Open pro-am in Sale's home city of Red Deer, Alta., they're in a Christmas show in Kitchener, Ont., and it was confirmed Wednesday they will take part in the 11-city HSBC Stars On Ice tour of Canada from April 16 to May 4.

"After the homecoming show we basically took it easy," Pelletier said during a conference call from Lake Placid. "We had business decisions that had to be made."

In a difficult move, they changed agents, and they needed a rest. They announced their retirement from competitive skating, and worked on a TV special.

"The year leading to the Olympics was very draining," Pelletier explained. "I haven't had a life for about four years so it was nice to have the summer without training for another season (of competition)."

Now they are eager to tour. They got back into it with performances in St. John's, Charlottetown, Moncton and Ottawa earlier this month on the Elvis Stojko tour, and now the Stars On Ice gigs put them front and centre for months to come.

"It's the best tour there is in the world," said Pelletier. "And not to skate in competition, it's even better."

They will share the ice with Elene Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharuldize, the other Olympic pairs champions, in one of their Stars On Ice routines.

"We like skating with them," said Sale. "We won't be competing as to who's got the better number."

The 11-city spring event also will include Kurt Browning, Alexei Yagudin, Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler, Todd Eldredge, Steven Cousins and Jennifer Robinson.

Given the lack of depth in the International Skating Union's competitive field this season, and injuries that have thinned those ranks, flashy tours with Olympic and world champions are unmatched in quality and entertainment value.

"I hate to tour because it's no fun!" kids Browning.

They have a ball.

The addition of 2002 Olympic champions adds lustre to Stars On Ice.

"The touring world has not been infused with a lot of new talent in recent years," said Browning. "We were due to get some of the stars that come out of the Olympic Games."

Yagudin, who lives in the United States, won't return to Russia to vie for another national title this winter, which means he won't be at the 2003 worlds in Washington. The hip injury that forced him out of the ISU's Skate Canada International is slowly healing, and he hopes to resume his ISU career next season.

The competitive side of sport is in transition, said Eldredge.

"After an Olympics, there's always a kind of a changing of the guard, and that's happened this year," he said. "The ISU ranks have seen a lot of new faces come up and it always takes a few years for those new faces to become old faces.

"There's a transition for them right now till they get those names out there."

Eldredge is undecided about going to the U.S. nationals in January to take one more shot at worlds.

"I have put my paperwork in to keep myself eligible and to have the option to compete at the national championships," he said. "It's a decision I will make sometime between now and then."

The skaters always look forward to their cross-Canada Stars On Ice trip.

"For us to skate in Canada is a great pleasure because people in Canada really like figure skating and show their appreciation," said Sikharuldze.

"Audiences in Canada are really fantastic," added Eldredge. "They really know their skating and their skaters."

Said Yagudin: "We're really tired of competing every season year after year. That's why we like Stars On Ice."

It's show business. There are no medals - just applause.