Jamie Salé began her figure skating career in singles and won bronze medals in the novice and junior categories of the Canadian Championships before coming in third at the senior level pairs competition with partner Jason Turner in 1994. Together they placed 16th at that year’s World Championships and 12th at the Winter Olympics before ending their partnership. Salé returned to singles skating and placed 5th at the 1995 Canadian Championships, but injury kept her out of the competition for the next two years. Her final year in the singles category was 1998, when she placed 6th. She then joined with her future husband David Pelletier, whom she had tried out with once previously in 1996, and together they placed 2nd at the 1999 Canadian Championships, but pulled out of the World Championships due to Pelletier’s back pain.
Salé and Pelletier came back in full force in 2000, winning the Canadian Championships with a record five perfect scores from the judges, and coming in 4th at the World Championships. The following year they added a second Canadian Championship victory and a World Championship title to their triumphs and jointly earned the Lou Marsh Trophy, given annually to Canada’s top athlete. In preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympics, the duo took another Canadian Championship that year, but they knew that they would have stiff competition against Russians Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. Although the Canadians put on a flawless routine, the judges voted 5-4 in favor of the Russians and Salé and Pelletier won silver. A few days later it was revealed that a French judge that had voted for the Russians had been pressured into her decision in exchange for Russian judges favoring the French ice dance team. A decision was made to award both duos the gold medal in the tournament. After the Olympics Salé and Pelletier began to tour professionally with Stars on Ice and also served as commentators during (among other figure skating events) the 2006 Winter Olympics. With Pelletier, she was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2009.
Canada