Well on this Valentine's Day, I wanted to share this story with you. If you've been watching the Olympic Games this week, you must be aware of the controversy of the pair figure skating medals, and how Canada's Pelletier and Salé were literally robbed of what should have been their gold medals. I watched their performance and they were flawless, at the same time I do feel for the Russian pair that won the gold, although they made a mistake in their skating, they overcame SO much to get to the games, nevertheless I do feel that fairness should have prevailed.
So what does this have to do with love and life? Well, in the story below you'll see how Pelletier and Salé overcame many obstacles, fear, anguish over a performance, to reach their goals. If you've seen them skating, you've seen their expression, intensity and obvious joy in what they do.
In my book, they won gold, even if they didn't actually get it. I think one can apply their experiences to life and to love... to focus on our actions and on loving instead of the outcome or receiving love.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Alejandra
Nichol, the choreographer for the Canadian tandem, sat the skaters down after the practice and told Pelletier to stop focusing on winning and simply concentrate on skating.
According to Pelletier, that talk was as good as gold. "She made me understand that to reach your goal, you have to detach yourself from it," he says.
Jamie Sale, "I was afraid to fail. As soon as I made one mistake, I knew I had failed and let it bother me. I learned working with a psychologist that when you´re not afraid to miss, your mental outlook is where it should be. Now we can acknowledge our fears."
All the right reasons
Pelletier and Sale figure out the mental game of skating
By Doug Miller
STAFF WRITER
Talk about a bad couple of weeks. David Pelletier and Jamie Sale, Canada´s top figure skating pair, had their share of misfortune heading into the 2001 World Championships in Vancouver, Canada.
WITHIN TWO WEEKS, they lost their home in a fire and Sale misplaced one of her good-luck charms and spilled boiling coffee on her hand.
Then it got really bad.
"We woke up the morning we left for Vancouver, we´re walking to Dave´s car to drive to the airport, and Dave´s car wasn´t there," says Sale. "It was stolen."
"We laughed. We figured it can´t get any worse than this. We have to do better than this."
They figured right.
Sale and Pelletier skated to victory at the worlds, beating the powerful Russian pair of Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya to cap off an impressive year that included three Grand Prix victories.
With the triumph, they cemented themselves as gold medal contenders at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
But the picture didn´t look so rosy the morning of the final free skate, despite the fact that the pair stood in third place and within striking distance of the gold after the short program.
Pelletier, who describes himself as a perfectionist, says he just didn´t feel right on the ice.
"We got out of practice the morning of the worlds and I was stressed," he says.
"Sometimes by the end of the week, a 9 o´clock practice, with 10,000 people in the stands, you just want people to leave you alone. You feel like people are always watching you. Competing, people are concentrating for four and a half minutes, but practicing is a pain in the neck. You always have to look good. But it´s part of your job."
Part of Lori Nichol´s job was to calm Pelletier down.
Nichol, the choreographer for the Canadian tandem, sat the skaters down after the practice and told Pelletier to stop focusing on winning and simply concentrate on skating.
In the two weeks prior to the 2001 World Championships, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada suffered a fire that destroyed their home, and Pelletier's car was stolen.
According to Pelletier, that talk was as good as gold. "She made me understand that to reach your goal, you have to detach yourself from it," he says.
"I was thinking, `You have a chance to win the worlds in your own country,´ and it was overwhelming. I was thinking about the results first, and I always get my knickers tied in a knot the morning of competition. That´s me, and we know that I get like this. But she helped me concentrate on skating first."
Sale has had similar struggles.
At the 2000 worlds in Nice, France, Pelletier and Sale, who have been skating together since July 1998, were third after the short program.
Still, they entered the free skate with a legitimate chance for gold after the leading pairs had problems.
But Sale made major errors and the duo fell to fourth.
"I basically faced my fear after that," says Sale.
`I was afraid to fail.´
- JAMIE SALE
World champion pairs figure skater "I was afraid to fail. As soon as I made one mistake, I knew I had failed and let it bother me. I learned working with a psychologist that when you´re not afraid to miss, your mental outlook is where it should be. Now we can acknowledge our fears."
In addition to overcoming mental barriers, Sale and Pelletier have reached what they say is a true togetherness on the ice buoyed by passion for performance.
That togetherness withstood another curve in the road when the pair announced in June 2001 that they were leaving Montreal and coach Richard Gauthier to train with Jan Ullmark in Edmonton, Alberta.
They declined to give a public explanation for the split, but Sale, a native of Red Deer, Alberta, is closer to her home and she is familiar with Ullmark, who trained her as a singles skater earlier in her career.
"Out of respect for Richard and those involved, we didn´t think it was right to have to explain the reasons why," says Pelletier.
"Everything has been working very, very well since we moved. It´s been great. Jamie is back to her roots."
And back to basics.
"We just love to skate," says Sale. "It´s not something that somebody taught us. We just get in our own little world. That is portrayed as chemistry to the public. They see that when we´re together like that, how we skate, that we love it. That´s chemistry right there."
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