Saturday, February 23, 2002
Golden team bids farewell
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- Jamie Sale and David Pelletier bade a heartfelt goodbye to the Salt Lake City Olympics last night.
The undisputed golden team of these Games received a rousing sendoff from the crowd at the Sale Lake Ice Center as they skated on to the ice for the exhibition number, Rockin' the Boogie by Toronto artist David Wilcox.
Three minutes and 40 seconds later, the Edmonton-based team, who have experienced the gauntlet of emotions at these Games, waved goodbye and prepared to leave the place where they permanently carved their name into Olympic lore.
Next stop for Olympic pairs champions? The Rosie O'Donnell Show and The Late Show with David Letterman next week.
And maybe the world figure skating championships in Nagano, Japan next month.
Sale and Pelletier have not officially played their hand as to whether they'll compete at the worlds, but the word out of Salt Lake yesterday was that Skate Canada officials have been told to book airline tickets to Japan for the pair.
'We'll go to Worlds if we feel in top shape," Pelletier said. "We also have to look at all the opportunities that are presented to us. At the same time, I want to go to worlds because I'm a competitor who likes to compete. But I'm exhausted. I've got to be smart."
The enormously popular team have an exhibition show set up for March 12 at the Edmonton SkyReach Centre -- the day they were originally supposed to fly to Japan. But SC was told to change the tickets to March 13.
The Edmonton show is being called Jamie and David and Friends, but, unless the date changes, there won't be many Canadian "friends" on the bill. The rest of the Canadian team, including singles skaters Elvis Stojko, Jennifer Robinson and the dance team Shae Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz are still scheduled to depart for Japan that day.
The worlds are scheduled for March 18-24.
Many skating officials believe that competing at the worlds would be a no-win situation for Sale and Pelletier. If they want to capitalize on their fame, the next two months is the time to do it. Olympic sports heroes have a very limited shelf life in terms of marketing appeal.
Craig Fenech, their agent who comes from the baseball world, is working to line up appropriate endorsements for the pair, who have appeared all over the U.S. on the cover of leading magazines, such as Time and Life, newspapers and on television. There is already talk about a Hollywood studio making a film of their life.
To have any chance of competing well at the worlds, the Canadian team would have to shut off the outside world for the next few weeks and concentrate on training, and that would mean walking away from potential big-money deals.
On top of that, if they decide to compete in Japan and finish second to the Olympic co-gold medallists, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia, they're stature from a marketing point of few would drop significantly.
And winning a worlds after what they've gone through here in Salt Lake City would mean very little to prospective sponsors.
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2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
