Pair skaters figuring on fun

It's just a charmed life - an Olympic gold medal in pairs figure skating and a chance to tour with Smucker's Stars on Ice. For Jaime Sale and David Pelletier, things are rosy.

"We're thoroughly enjoying ourselves," Sale said by cell phone from a car on a Chicago highway this week. "I couldn't be happier. We accomplished our ultimate goal with the gold medal, and we skated great in the Olympics, and we're feeling great about ourselves."

In a way, she said, turning pro isn't easier than the amateur skating world. It has its own set of rigors and demands, she said.

"It's not less work, in a way," she said. "You're never at home, and all through the summer, you're choreographing new stuff and doing TV specials. Being away from home a lot, it's the price you pay, but we love it so much, entertaining and being in front of our fans. It's just going so well, even better than we had hoped."

Pelletier and Sale are in six numbers in Stars on Ice, including two solo pieces. You'll see them also in the opening and closing numbers and in a piece along with Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze and Todd Eldredge. Pelletier appears in an all-male number, too.

With all that strenuous exercise, you'd think these skaters could feast on whatever they wanted and never gain an ounce.

Not so, Sale said.

"You'd be surprised; I wish I could. We're both very health-conscious - we treat our bodies like cars. You put good fuel in your car, so we feed ourselves good food and try to stick to a balanced diet. We eat lots of protein, drink lots of water."

One of the things Sale loves most about skating is being off the ice - above it, actually, in lifts and leaps.

"I love to fly," she said. "The rush that I get from it, I can't describe. When he lifts me or throws me, it's just fabulous."

And what about that handsome skating partner? What's he like?

"He's a perfectionist, very competitive with himself, just wanting to be the best he can be," she said. "But he's also very generous, sensitive - he cares about how I and everyone else feels. And he's very cute.

"It's just fun to be part of a group, to make it happen," she said. "I'm just so excited about being on tour with these great skaters.