Jamie Rae Salé is a Canadian pair figure skater who became a World Champion in 2001 and an Olympic Champion in 2002. Learn more about her life and career path below on calgarynka.
Childhood and Early Competitions
Jamie was born on April 21, 1977, in Calgary and grew up in the city of Red Deer, north of Calgary. At the age of three, she began skating, and by the age of five, she was attending figure skating and gymnastics training. At seven, Jamie decided to focus her athletic efforts solely on skating.
In 1994, Jamie competed at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, with her partner Jason Turner, where they placed 12th. Later that year, the pair participated in the World Championships in Chiba, Japan, finishing 16th. The partnership ended that summer, and Jamie transitioned to competing as a singles skater.
Jamie won a bronze medal in the novice category and placed eighth in juniors at the Canadian Championships. In 1994, she won the short program and earned a bronze medal in the junior competition at the Canadian Championships. The following year, she placed fifth at the Canadian Championships but withdrew from the 1997 Championships due to injury concerns.
Teaming Up with David Pelletier
In 1996, Jamie and David Pelletier first considered forming a pair but didn’t immediately pursue the idea. After moderate success in singles, Jamie revisited pair skating. David’s coach, Richard Gauthier, suggested Jamie as a partner. In February 1998, the two met in Edmonton, and by March, Jamie had moved to Montreal to begin training with David.
The Canadian Figure Skating Association invited the pair to compete at Skate Canada, where they placed second in the short program, behind Canadian champions Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz. Jamie and David were later invited to the NHK Trophy in Japan, where they earned another bronze medal.
The success cemented their status as fan favorites in Canada. They were invited to the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and the World Championships, but David’s back pain forced the pair to withdraw from both competitions. They spent two months off the ice while David recovered.
In the summer of 1999, the pair’s coach enlisted the help of renowned choreographer Lori Nichol, who created a playful tango for their short program and selected music from the film Love Story for their long program. With these programs, the pair won Skate America in 1999.
Rising Success and the World Championships
Jamie and David shone at the 2000 Canadian Championships in Calgary, delivering nearly flawless performances and exceeding expectations. They also won the gold medal at the Four Continents Championships in Osaka, Japan.
By the 2000 World Championships in Nice, France, public expectations were high. However, a major error during the short program left them in third place. Despite this setback, the pair continued to impress audiences.
During the 2000–2001 season, Jamie and David again worked with choreographer Lori Nichol, creating a jazz-inspired short program set to Come Rain or Come Shine and a dramatic long program based on Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde. That autumn, they won gold at both Skate America and Skate Canada.
At the 2001 World Championships in Vancouver, Jamie and David were crowd favorites. Despite difficulties during the side-by-side jumps in the short program, which left them in third place, their long program secured them the gold medal. They became only the second Canadian pair to win a World Championship and the second pair to win a World Championship held in Canada.
The 2002 Olympic Scandal
At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Jamie and David delivered an emotionally compelling and nearly flawless long program, seemingly ensuring a gold medal. However, when the scores were announced, the Russian pair, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, received higher marks for presentation, despite making several visible mistakes. Jamie and David were awarded the silver medal.
The result sparked widespread outrage, especially in North America. French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne revealed that she had been pressured by Didier Gailhaguet, the president of the French Ice Sports Federation, to vote for the Russians in exchange for favorable scores for the French ice dance team. However, Le Gougne later retracted her statement.
After a five-day investigation, the decision was overturned, and the pairs were declared co-champions. In February 2002, Jamie and David were awarded a second set of gold medals, making them Olympic champions. Several officials and judges were subsequently suspended.
This controversy prompted changes to the judging system, including the introduction of anonymous scoring to reduce external pressures on judges. Under the new system, only the final scores were publicly disclosed, while the individual scores remained confidential. This reform was implemented during the 2003–2004 Grand Prix season and continued in subsequent years.
Marriage and Retirement
Following the Olympic controversy, Jamie and David declined to compete at the World Championships later that year and announced their retirement from amateur skating in April 2002. They transitioned to professional skating and toured North America, performing in Stars on Ice.
On Christmas 2004, the pair became engaged at their Edmonton home. They married on December 30, 2005, at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff. In September 2007, they welcomed their son, Jesse Joe Pelletier.
Jamie participated in the first season of the Canadian reality show Battle of the Blades in 2009, partnering with hockey player Craig Simpson. The duo won the competition in November 2009. The following year, Jamie returned for the second season, partnering with Theo Fleury.
In 2010, Jamie and David quietly separated but continued their professional skating partnership until officially retiring in 2012. Jamie later married Craig Simpson in 2012, and they had a daughter, Samantha Rae Simpson, in 2013. Their marriage ended in June 2021.
Controversial Posts
Jamie faced controversy after leaving professional skating. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she shared misinformation about the Pfizer vaccine’s efficacy, claiming it was only 12%. She also criticized the use of face masks for children, labeling it as a form of “child abuse.”
Additionally, Jamie called Halloween a “satanic agenda” and reposted a fabricated article alleging that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attributed climate change to public anger and resentment toward politicians.