Dateline Transcript by Dawn
A special thank you to Dawn, the one who typed the transcript and did all the work. Use with permission.
S: Just ask Canadian pairs team, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. Little did they know that when they stepped off the ice after their spectacular long program that their most difficult moves would lay ahead. Negotiating the slippery slope between competition and controversy, between silver and gold. Helping them through it all laughter, and as you may be surprised to hear in this very candid conversation, love.
(They show clips of their figure skating)
S: The music was unmistakable, and for Jamie Sale and David Pellteir, a perfect fit. They are not just Canada’s sweethearts and the world’s. They’re each others.
S: When did you fall in love?
D: oh boy that is the million dollar question.
(giggles and then clips of Jamie & David on the ice at the Royal Glenora)
S: Jamie and David don’t usually talk much about their romantic involvement, but tonight. You’ll hear some surprising things they had to say about each other, about their Olympic ordeal, and about their future. As they go from earning one kind of gold to another.
S: (in an interview with J&D) First you become champions, and now you’re commodities (David looks over at Jamie, almost like he doesn’t know what that word means) Does that feel a little strange?
J: It has changed our lives a lot.
S: In some way the controversy has catapulted you to even greater levels of celebrity and stardom.
D: yeah yeah, uh the controversy happened, and we got out of it the best we could.
S: their story was in many ways the biggest of these Olympics. Their gold medal delayed, but not denied, after a judging scandal and a reversal of Olympic proportion. From the morning shows (clips of D swinging Katie Couric around) to late night talk shows (clips of Jay Leno), and everything in between (show covers of Time and Newsweek) they have been the epitomy of poise.
J: This is great that we are getting to be on all these talk shows and magazines and everything, but what is important is that we don’t lose who we are.
S: After two weeks of grace under pressure, they are now living that other dream of every over scheduled Olympian, going home to a schedule full of nothing.
(show D& J sitting on the couch watching TV. And then in their kitchen. J on the phone, D pouring a glass of orange juice, then D on the phone)
S: famous now in households around the world, Jamie & David invited us into theirs in Edmonton. Gold medal on the kitchen counter (they show it next to a pair of keys), Jamie going from double toe loops to double takes. (J holds up an invitation that she got to a party for the Academy Awards while D is on the phone) As she caught up on the mail, still unacustomed to their new status on the celebrity A List.
J: This is the invitation to a party after the Academy Awards.
S: But as they relaxed and recharged, David couldn’t resist starting up his engine, for his third favorite sport. After figure skating and hockey the game he dreamed of playing professionally if only he would have been big enough. (they show David racing a go cart). No judging controversy here, as a computer prints out the results. David had to settle for third. The gold going to his buddy. But the critical results of these last few weeks are in the hands of Jamie & David’s agent, Craig Finick, who has been fielding offers from companies who want to buy into the Olympics magic. (Craig talking on the phone in his office) In his New Jersey office he has filled a large notebook with 79 pages of potential clients, one of the first deals they signed was a no brainer with a tooth whitener (shows J&D holding a box of Crest Whitening Strips)
S: (back in the interview setting), Look at those perfect teeth.
J: They’re perfect.
S: No wonder Crest signed you up. Look at these smiles. (chuckles from J&D)
S: and there may be a lot more to come. They have already done a deal with kleenex as well as ice shows and tours. All told these two products of the middle class could be looking at millions of dollars.
S: (back in interview) have you two received any wild offeres that you never would have expected?
D: Playboy hasn’t called yet. (Laughter from all, and you can hear J saying Noooooo) That’s her call (points to Jamie) (more laughter)
S: jokes asides in figure skating it’s not just athletism that counts. It’s also appearance. (shows clips of Love Story and then on the phrase also appearance, they show Rockin the Boogie when David is going to slap Jamie’s butt but she grabs his arm)
S: (back in interview) In a magazine this past week, you were described as the Alberta girl with the bright smile and shimmying rear.
J: (in a puzzled tone) shimmying rear
S: Obviously you are also a world class athlete, but a little sex appeal doesn’t hurt.
J: oh that’s what that means. (giggling from her and David) I didn’t know what that meant.
S: but David knows what that means. In pairs skating the focus is on the female.
D: People when they watch skating it is either a man or a woman, but they watch the girl all the time.
S: so you feel like she’s the focus? All eyes are on her.
D: yep, yep. And it should be like this. I’m supposed to make her look good. I can see how bald I’m going, because everytime there is a picture of us in the paper you see the back of my head. And you see Jamie smiling up there. Sometimes you see my leg or my hand, or part of my shoulder, but Jamie is up there looking pretty.
S: in the center of the photograph big smile.
D: yep yep
S: looking perfect
D: that’s the way it is. I’m more then fine with that. That’s the way it should be.
S: (showing clips of the playful portion of Love Story) as skating partners they are perfectly matched. But it took some career ups and downs for the two of them to find each other. Jamie skated with a different partner in the 1994 Olympics, finishing a disappointing 12th. In fact both Jamie & David at one point had considered quitting altogether. This now famous pairing almost didn’t happen.
S: (back in interview), Jamie, long before you became a skating couple he was on your radar screen. (Jamie smiles and kind of giggles)
S: it was 1996 and Jamie was looking for a new partner.
J: I got his phone number through the book and dialed it up and said Hi David it’s Jamie Sale I was just wondering if you were interested in doing a try out.
S: was the answer yes right away?
D: yes, oh yeah. Everybody wanted to skate with Jamie. Everybody. I mean she was that cocky, confident smilely little girl from Edmonton. Every pair skater, male pair skater wanted to skate with her (Jamie just smiles and looks embarrased).
S: and you were no exception?
D: I was no exception.
S: but David was in Montreal and didn’t want to move out West to Edmonton, and Jamie was too young to move out East. But two years later…
D: the phone rang again, and it was Jamie. She said this time you’re coming to Edmonton to try out.
J: I had heard that he was either quitting, or maybe possibly looking into changing partner, so I said, oh this is my last chance so I dialed his number up again.
S: their match paid off. A world title, and three Canadian championships before the gold in Salt Lake.
S: though David was married when their partnership began. His marriage didn’t last. He had fallen in love with skating all over again, and eventually with Jamie.
S: (in interview) did it happen quickly?
J: no no two years after.
S: was it a risky move? I mean to give in to those feelings? Given the fact that you had this working relationship on the ice. Were you concerned about taking it in that other direction.
D: yes, obviously it asked of ourselves a whole lot of maturity, uh to be able to leave the stuff off the ice off the ice, and the stuff on the ice on the ice.
S: and you’re able to do that?
D: yeah we are.
J: every relationship is a risk and the good side to ours is that we’re always together. I mean we see that as a good thing.
S: and what about their roller coaster ride of an Olympics? During the games they were diplomatic, but now they hold nothing back. They say that all along they knew that they outskated the Russians. No matter how the judges voted.
J: Technically that night we skated better. And everyone knew it across the world.
S: you felt you won. When you came off the ice
D: I felt I gave a gold medal performance
J: and we knew they had made a mistake
S: but the strangest moment may have been the second medal ceremony. When the Canadians got their gold along side the Russians.
S: (in interview) what did the Russian skaters say to you?
D: we saw them about ten minutes before we got on the podium.
J: it was a very akward situation for everyone. We tried to make jokes and they were laughing and they were saying jokes and we were laughing. We were all okay with it. We were trying to make the best of it.
D: you know I said this is nothing personal. You know we are friends. We were friends before this and after.
S: you feel like they were accepting of this.
J: yeah.
S: the last few weeks have obviously taken a toll on these two. They will not compete in the World Championships in Japan this month, and they’ve already decided about 2006.
S: (in interview) What are the chances you’ll compete in the next Olympics?
(J holds up her hand and makes the shape of a zero, both start to laugh)
D: well we’re no Michael Jordan, that’s for sure, but let’s leave it at zero point 2 percent.
S: (clips of Love Story again) but are there other more personal plans in the future? Is there one more chapter in this Olympic Love Story?
S: (in interview) Have you talked about marriage?
J&D (in unison) uhn uhn (then giggles from both, but mainly Jamie)
J: No
S: Haven’t even talked about it?
J: we don’t have time
S: you’re kids will be great skaters.
D: hopefully they’ll be great hockey players (laughter from both)
S: (in front of Rockefellar Center) the next public performance for these newly minted gold medal winners, March 12th, on their home ice in Edmonton.
- home - fan section -
Date: March 2002
[S: Stone Phillip, J: Jamie Salé, D: David Pelletier]