In life and in sport is a phrase that perfectly sums up the partnership of five-time Canadian Champions and World silver medalists, ice dancers Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon, who will be the featured performers at Symphony On Ice XI Tuesday, Dec. 4 at WesBanco Arena.

The image was replayed over and over during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games—Dubreuil slipping from an intricate moving lift and crashing to the ice. Her partner in skating and in life, Patrice Lauzon, carried her off the ice and then from the kiss and cry area. The next day he practiced alone and before leaving the ice stopped to kiss the Olympic rings—a gesture Dubreuil had planned to do at the conclusion of their free dance. Although the hip injury Dubreuil suffered in Torino kept them from completing the Olympic competition, they returned one month later at the World Championships and won the free dance and the silver medal.

For Lauzon, the Olympic disappointment solidified the fact that life came before sport. “It made me realize that Marie and what we have together is much more important than anything else,” he says. The subsequent success at Worlds showed, “Under pressure, with confidence, you can achieve pretty much anything you want.”

Dubreuil describes the free dance at the World Championships in Calgary as the number two highlight in her skating career. “The highest point was to finally find Patrice, my partner (the couple teamed up in 1995). Once we found each other and we had the good vehicle to move forward, that was the highest point. The second highest would definitely be Worlds.”

Following the successful conclusion to the 2005-06 season, the duo considered retirement. Having lived and trained in Lyon, France for four years, they missed their families and were ready to return to Canada. But after Dubreuil took a couple of months to rest and fully heal her injury, they realized they wanted to continue to compete. Also, they were eager to continue their collaboration with choreographer David Wilson.

“For us, David is one of the best choreographers of our time,” says Dubreuil. “He really respects our personalities, because we both have very strong personalities. We’re able to work together with him and he’s not imposing a style or his style. He’s very open and very artistic and helps us develop our own personalities and our own style.”

Their Grand Prix events are Skate Canada and NHK Trophy. Then they will compete for a fifth Canadian Championship, followed by the ISU Four Continents Championships and the World Championships. They are setting their sights on gold.

“One thing we did very differently last season was to set our goals very high and try to achieve them—even if sometimes it’s scary to do that,” Lauzon says. “People won’t put goals too high in case they don’t achieve them and they don’t want to be too disappointed. We did the opposite of that last year. We said we were going to win our Grand Prixs. Nobody believed we could do it, but we did. We said we’d medal at Olympics and we said we wanted to win Worlds, and we almost did that. So this year we’re saying we want to win everything. It’s our new way to think. We will always aim as high as possible and deal with the consequences.”

Although they are taking it one year at a time, it is entirely possible this duo will continue to compete until the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. “I always used to put dates and limits on myself,” says Dubreuil. “Sometimes life takes you ways that you never thought it would. I did a big detour to get where I wanted to go. Right now, at 32, I feel more balanced, healthier and happier than ever. For me, it’s getting easier to train and compete. I enjoy myself much more now than I used to when I had no life experience.

Now I know not to put limits. We want to feel very complete with our career before we move onto to something else. It’s a big chance to have Olympics in our home country in 2010. If we’re on top of our game and competitive, I say why not.”

Skating Credits

2007 World Championships – 2nd Place

2007 ISU Four Continents – 1st Place

2007 Canadian Championships – 1st Place

2006 NHK Trophy – 1st Place

2006 Skate Canada – 1st Place

2006 World Championships – 2nd Place

2006 Winter Olympic Games – WDN

2006 Canadian Championships – 1st Place

2005 NHK Trophy – 1st Place

2005 Canadian Championships – 1st Place

2005 World Championships – 7th Place

2004 Skate Canada – 2nd Place

2004 Canadian Championships – 1st Place

2004 ISU Grand Prix Final – 5th Place

2004 World Championships – 8th Place

2004 ISU Four Continents – 2nd Place

2004 Cup of China – 3rd Place

2003 Canadian Championships – 2nd Place

2003 ISU Grand Prix Final – 6th Place

2003 Bofrost Cup on Ice – 1st Place

2003 Skate Canada – 3rd Place

2003 World Championships – 10th Place

2003 ISU Four Continents – 4th Place

2002 Canadian Championships – 2nd Place

2002 Skate Canada – 2nd Place

2002 Bofrost Cup on Ice – 4th Place

2002 World Championships – 10th Place

2002 Winter Olympic Games – 12th Place

2002 ISU Grand Prix Final – 6th Place

2001 Canadian Championships – 2nd Place

2001 NHK Trophy – 4th Place

2001 World Championships – 11th Place

2001 ISU Grand Prix Final – 6th Place

2001 ISU Four Continents – 3rd Place

2000 Canadian Championships – 1st Place

2000 Cup of Russia – 6th Place

2000 ISU Grand Prix Final – 6th Place

2000 ISU Four Continents – 2nd Place

2000 Skate Canada – 3rd Place

2000 World Championships – 10th Place