Canadian pair deals with fame after Olympics

AUBURN HILLS -- Around this time last year, the lives of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier went from hectic to unfathomably insane.

They were just a pair of world-class figure skaters from Canada, hoping to perform their best and win a medal at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

They left as co-gold medalists, coming out the other end as the catalysts to a judging scandal that shook the Olympics and changed skating permanently.

"Nobody, absolutely nobody, could have prepared us or foresaw what would happen like that," Sale, 25, said. "We had trained all our lives to compete our best at the Olympics. The whole thing turned into something that we had no control of, outside of our skating.

"Everything worked out, though. We've gone from being very low-profile Canadians with a dream to being famous having achieved our dreams."

Sale and Pelletier decided to turn professional after the Olympics, signing with Stars on Ice.

The show, which also features Todd Eldredge of Lake Angelus, Alexei Yagduin, Katarina Witt and Kurt Browning, comes to The Palace at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Life is still hectic for the couple, as Stars on Ice is akin to a circus or rock concert tour. The company buses to a new city, does publicity or charity events, performs in the evening, then packs up to do it all over the next night.

The Palace show will be the 26th performance in 43 days for the pair, the equivalent of well more than two years' worth of amateur outings. Their tour, which will extend into Canada, will amass 72 shows through May 4.

"It is a very different life. It's something you have to get used to," Pelletier, 28, said. "But we are enjoying traveling and the skaters are all great. I actually like the bus. I'll take that every day over a commercial flight.

"You have to take care of yourself, making sure your body can maintain this kind of schedule."

The jump from the amateur to professional ranks has freed the pair artistically.

Moves or musical selections that were frowned upon by strict international judges now draw enthusiastic responses from the crowd.

Sale and Pelletier want to get more creative but maintain their technical edge. Many show programs substitute flash over substance, with the harder triple jumps or combinations frequently dumped.

"We now do what we want, as the main thing is to have fun," Sale said. "We're working on different lifts. We still do a handstand lift and three throws, which is something many won't do. We got to a very high technical level for the Olympics, why not maintain it and still grow?"

Touring across North America has given the pair a chance to gauge how much their Salt Lake experience resonated with skating fans.

They are recognized nearly everyplace they go, teaching them to deal with fame as a daily thing.

The demand for public appearances and media interviews is still high, sometimes leading to days that start at 5 a.m., for the morning TV shows, and end at around midnight on performance days.

They have signed a few commercial endorsement deals with Crest WhiteStrips, Roots Canada, CCM skates and Rogers AT&T Wireless.

"It's weird, because we never expected to be known for what we do," Sale said. "We're not movie stars, we're not healing the world or ending hunger.