Saturday, December 15, 2001
Sale, Pelletier ponder program for Salt Lake
By ROB BRODIE -- Ottawa Sun
KITCHENER -- The weight of an Olympic gold medal might rest squarely on their decision.
But Jamie Sale and David Pelletier figure they can't lose.
Rachmaninoff or Love Story?
Only the reigning world champions know for sure which free program will be the right one to take to the Salt Lake City Olympics, where they'll be part of what figures to be a short list of Canadians favoured to strike gold.
But even they admit it's a choice they'll have to weigh beyond tomorrow night, after competition at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating final has wrapped up at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
The format of this event requires skaters to perform two free programs. Sale and Pelletier haven't lost this season with their current free program, skated to Rachmaninoff's Adagio Piano Concerto No. 2, which landed them in second after last night.
But Love Story, which they'll break out again tonight, is the couple's signature program. So much so that when fans at a practice early yesterday caught the first hint of its emotional music, they squealed with delight.
'WENT CRAZY'
"They all went crazy ... it was like 'yeah, they're doing (Love Story),' " said Sale, 24, of Red Deer, Alta. "It's going to be a tough decision, but we're so happy we have two good programs to choose between."
Two different ones, too. Everyone knows the tragic tale behind Love Story -- at the 2000 Canadian championships in Calgary, Sale and Pelletier had fans weeping all over the Pengrowth Saddledome after their performance.
Sale calls this year's free program more "abstract" in content.
"I always have to think that I'm a flower opening and Dave is the stem, the power underneath me," said Sale.
Though Pelletier grinned yesterday and said "ask me tomorrow" when queried about which way the couple will eventually go, he might have dropped a subtle hint about it.
"Even when we skate Love Story right now, it's not the same (program) that we skated two years ago because we're not the same skaters," said Pelletier, 27, of Sayabec, Que. "So we can also bring our old program to the same level that we have now."
There is no such decision to make about their Jalousie short program, which looked Olympic-sharp yesterday afternoon. It was enough to give the Canadians the edge over Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, and Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China.
Sale and Pelletier, who are aiming to become only Canada's second Olympic champions in pairs (Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul won in 1960 at Squaw Valley, Calif.), aren't the least bit concerned about peaking too soon.
"We don't believe in that. You have to be at your best everywhere," said Sale. "You have to be on all the time, all year."
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
