A wrestler, a fencer and a...

If Tammy Jerue is quick to offer a story of her own failure, it is probably only because she has failed so seldom.

Jerue, who lives in Brea and trains at the Santa Ana Skate Ranch, has won four consecutive roller skating pairs world championships with her partner, John Arishta, who retired last year. Jerue also has won two national women’s singles titles and three national age-group singles titles.

But back in 1975, when Jerue, now 20, competed in her second regional competition, she finished dead last.

“We never thought I would become anything,” said Jerue, whose parents also skated competitively. And she laughs, because so much since has gone so well.

Jerue won the pairs and singles freestyle competitions at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Houston last year, and she should be the women’s singles favorite at this year’s Olympic Festival skat1768843040Carolina.

Jerue also will compete in the Pan American Games at Indianapolis Aug. 7-23.

Already Jerue is certain that she will retire this fall, after the world roller skating championships in New Zealand. But first there is one important thing she has yet to do.

“My main goal is I just want to win the worlds (singles) before I retire,” Jerue said. “So far I have two third-place finishes and one fourth place.”

Jerue had planned to retire from singles last year, but when Arishta, her partner, made a surprise decision to retire, she decided to keep skating.

“I decided I had one more year in me,” Jerue said.

Since then, she has concentrated on singles as she never had before.

Jerue went to Sacramento Foothill High School, but moved to Orange County for skating. She trains under Dennis and Gail Collier at the Santa Ana Skate Ranch, where she works part-time as a cashier. Amateur-status rules prevent her from teaching or coaching.

“I really was a bad skater as a kid,” said Jerue, whose skating has taken her to competitions in Colombia, Italy and Japan. “I guess I just got better as I got older.”