Twice as nice on ice

Calling from the road between Oklahoma City and Grand Forks, N.D., Jamie Sale and David Pelletier are more chipper than two people on the road between Oklahoma City and Grand Forks have any right to be.

"It's great to be on the road. We've toured America before but never more than 20-something shows," says Pelletier, one half of Canada's gold-medal-winning figure-skating duo."We've always gone to the edges, Florida, the West Coast, the East Coast. But this is our first time in somewhere like Kansas or Oklahoma. There are a lot of places I've never been, so it's very interesting."

The pair's stint on the 61-city"Smucker's Stars on Ice" tour is giving Pelletier ample opportunity to indulge his interest in exotic locales such as Topeka, Duluth and Dayton. And although it may seem that touring the backwoods of America would pale in comparison to the heights of Olympic glory, Sale insists nothing could be further from the truth.

"We've done 18 shows so far on this tour, and I still get the same rush of adrenaline as when I competed. I'm sure when we're on our 72nd show I'll still have it. I want to be perfect every night. The only thing that's different is that now we're being judged by the fans. I enjoy it much better than competing."

Pelletier agrees."Competing was great, but once you've done it for 20 years and you've been to the top, it's time to turn the page."

It's understandable the pair would welcome the respite from competition, especially considering the circumstances that thrust them into the national spotlight just a little over a year ago.

At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Sale and Pelletier finished second in the pairs competition behind Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, although most experts agreed the Canadians had delivered the better performance.

It was soon revealed that one of the judges had been pressured to vote for the Russians. The controversy that followed not only landed Sale and Pelletier their own set of golds, but also spots on every talk show and magazine cover this side of Ottawa.

"We were doing media from the early hours of the day until evening. It was very hard on us. We weren't getting any sleep. We lost control of our lives for a few days there," notes Sale."The situation was unfortunate, disgusting actually, but it turned into something absolutely wonderful for us. And I think true skating fans still appreciate the sport for what it is and not for the judging."

Pelletier is also excited to turn his focus away from the controversy and back to skating. He's even enjoying the tour's grueling schedule."I like having shows back to back, because you get into a rhythm. What's hard is having two days off and then trying to get back into it. Dayton is going to be our third show in a row, so that's good news."

In addition to their two-song routine, the pair will also join tourmates such as Kurt Browning and Katarina Witt on the Nutter ice for four group numbers."We're all one big dysfunctional family. And it's much more relaxed now that we don't have to compete against each other anymore," says Pelletier.