FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
David Jacques Pelletier (born November 22, 1974) is a Canadian pairs figure skater. With his former wife Jamie Salé, he was the co-gold medal winner at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. They shared the gold medal with the Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze after the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal.
Partnership with Jamie Salé
Pelletier asked coach Richard Gauthier to help him find another partner, and he suggested Salé. They traveled to Edmonton in February 1998 to try out with Salé again. “The first time we grabbed hands, it was just great,” said Pelletier, and by the next month Salé had moved to Montreal to skate with him.
The Canadian Figure Skating Association invited the pair to compete at Skate Canada, where they immediately made a statement by placing second in the short program, ahead of reigning Canadian Champions Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz, and third in the long program to win the bronze medal. Because of their success, they were invited to the NHK Trophy in Japan and brought home another bronze medal.
Their fall successes made them favorites for the Canadian title, but they struggled technically and finished second. The silver medal earned them a spot on the Four Continents and World teams, but Pelletier’s back pain forced the pair to withdraw from both competitions. They would ultimately spend two months off the ice recuperating.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
How long has New Year’s Eve been celebrated?
The end of one year and the beginning of the next has been celebrated since ancient times, though obviously not always on this date. It’s believed that Dutch settlers brought the December 31 celebration to America, but the Native Americans had already paved the way. Long before the settlers arrived, the Iroquois marked the end of the old year and the start of the new one by gathering up clothes, furnishings, and household utensils, along with uneaten corn and other grains, and tossing them onto a great bonfire. One can’t get much more expressive than that.
Advice of the Day
When things go wrong, don’t go with them.
Home Hint of the Day
Tearing plaster and lath off a wall, no matter how carefully done, will generate a lot of dust. Haul the wreckage away as you go and, when finished, vacuum the studs, the boards behind them, and the floor. Let the dust settle, then vacuum the floor again.
Word of the Day
Heliophobia
Fear of sun/sunshine
Puzzle of the Day
Did Jonah cry when the whale swallowed him?
He thought he was going to blubber, but he didn’t.
Born
- Rudyard Kipling (author) – 1865
- Bert Parks (television personality) – 1914
- Bo Diddley (guitarist) – 1928
- Del Shannon (singer) – 1934
- Mike Nesmith (musician, member of The Monkees) – 1942
- Davy Jones (musician; member of The Monkees) – 1945
- Matt Lauer (journalist) – 1957
- Tiger Woods (golfer) – 1975
- Eliza Dushku (actress) – 1980
- Kristin Kreuk (actress) – 1982
- LeBron James (basketball player) – 1984
Died
- Amelia Bloomer (social reformer who introduced BLOOMERS) – 1894
- Richard Rodgers (composer) – 1979
- Artie Shaw (jazz clarinetist and bandleader) – 2004
Events
- Percy Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft were married– 1816
- U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes married Lucy Webb– 1852
- U.S. and Mexico signed the Gadsden Purchase Treaty– 1853
- First photo of Earth’s curvature exhibited, in Cleveland, Ohio– 1930
- The Arroyo Seco Parkway, California’s first freeway, officially opened. It connected Los Angeles and Pasadena– 1940
- The Roy Rogers Show made its TV debut– 1951
- Figure skater David Pelletier wed skating partner Jamie Salé– 2005
- Samoa skipped this day in order to move from the eastern to the western side of the International Date Line– 2011
Weather
- Great Cold Wave hit the East : -13 degrees F, New York City; -15 degrees F, Boston, Massachusetts; and -43 degrees F, New Hampshire– 1917
- The temperature in Lewisburg, West Virginia, dropped to -37F.– 1917
- Bloomfield, Vermont, set a record low temperature for New England with -50 degrees F– 1933
- Forty-eight degrees below zero F in Mazama and Winthrop, Washington– 1968
- Las Vegas was blanketed with 1.3 inches of snow– 2003
COURTESY www.almanac.com
