Canadians Don’t Fall Too Short

The pressure on Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada to follow their world championship with an Olympic gold medal is sometimes too onerous for them to bear.

“It’s heavy,” Pelletier said of the expectations they face after winning nine consecutive competitions. “The only place I feel comfortable is on the ice. Since I’ve been here, I love practicing and I love skating.”

They were able to release some of that pressure Saturday night.

Unintentionally adding a humorous ending to their “Jalousie” short program, they slipped out of their languid, graceful final pose and fell sideways to the ice, surprising themselves as much as the 16,089 fans at the Salt Lake Ice Center. But since the fall didn’t occur on one of the eight required elements, they weren’t penalized by the judges, who placed them second behind Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia.

Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China were third with a powerful routine to “Kismet” that included a well-executed throw triple loop and excellent double twist. Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia were fourth, one place ahead of U.S. pair champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman. The second U.S. entry, Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn, stood 11th. The pairs competition will end Monday with the long program, worth two-thirds of the final score.

Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, skating with excellent unison, got an array of 5.7s and 5.8s (out of 6.0) for their required elements and eight 5.8s and one 5.9 for their presentation, putting them first on seven of nine judges’ scorecards. The Nagano silver medalists’ practices earlier last week had been rocky because Berezhnaya got a sunburn at a tanning salon and was too sore for her partner to hold or throw her, but they had no problems Saturday and are in position to continue a Russian pairs winning streak dating to 1964.

“I feel great,” Berezhnaya said. “I think everybody skate so well. It was nice to watch. We did our job and I’m glad we skate well here.”

Pelletier was merely glad to get the short program over with. The 2-minute, 40-second routine is fraught with tension because deductions are mandatory for each botched element. But the couple got the other two first-place votes.

“The short program, you’ve got everything to do,” he said. “If you do a mistake, you’re done.”

They’re still in fine position, which enabled Sale to smile about their fall.

“I’m not even sure what happened,” said Sale, who was kissed by Pelletier after they fell and teamed with him to pull off the final pose the right way. “It was the weirdest thing. It was funny.”

Said Pelletier: “I knew my job was done. I looked at Jamie and said, ‘I can’t believe I’m at the Olympics and this happens.’ But sometimes it’s good not to follow a script.”

Ina and Zimmerman, however, were less than amused at the judges’ reaction to their Pink Floyd routine. Their marks for required elements included one 5.3 from U.S. judge Lucy Brennan and their presentation marks ranged from 5.5 to 5.7.

“We would have liked them to have been a bit higher,” said Zimmerman, who bobbled the landing of their side-by-side triple toe loops and was out of unison with Ina on their side-by-side spins.

“For our first time out in the Olympics as a team, I think we handled this well, and hopefully we learned from that.”

Ina, who teamed with Jason Dungjen to finish ninth at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and fourth at the 1998 Nagano Games, praised the crowd for its support. American flags were everywhere, waving on sticks and stitched onto sweaters, jackets and headbands, but the patriotic fans gave warm ovations to skaters from other countries.

“It was so exciting to be out there,” she said.

“The crowd was incredible. We didn’t know what to expect. It’s the Olympic Games.... It’s a little overwhelming.”

Scott and Dulebohn, making their Olympic debut, were plagued by nerves. Scott fell on the landing of their throw triple salchow and swung her leg too far in landing their side-by-side triple toe loops.

“I want to go out and do it again right now,” she said.

Unfortunately, there are no do-overs in the Olympics.

“We’re here and we’re proud to be here,” Dulebohn said.