Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon are a simply delightful husband and wife ice dancing team. Both are natives of Montreal, Quebec and began skating together in 1995. Marie-France and Patrice 8-time World Team Members, and 2-time Olympians. They won silver at the World Figure Skating Championships, in 2006 and 2007, both times behind Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria. They are 8-time medalists at the Canadian Championships: 3 silvers and 5 golds.Marie-France and Patrice withdrew from the 2006 Olympics after Marie-France suffered a terrible fall out of a rotational lift, landing on her hip, during the Original Dance portion of the competition. The moment drew a loud gasp from the crowd. The world watched as Marie-France had to be carried off the ice by Patrice. The couple feared the worst--that her hip was broken--but fortunately, it was only badly bruised, swollen and sore. Unable to recover in time to skate the Free Dance two days after the fall, Marie-France and Patrice had to exit the competition. Withdrawing from an Olympic Games--an event athletes work toward and dream about their entire lives--is unfortunate in any circumstance, but maybe even more so in this case, because Marie-France and Patrice had been skating the best of their careers during the fall Grand Prix season leading up the Olympics, finishing first in both their individual Grand Prix events (NHK Trophy and Skate Canada), and third at the Grand Prix Final. They seemed to have hit their stride and found their special style, garnering rave reviews for their poignant "Somewhere in Time" freeskate. There was a lot of buzz about this pair leading into the Games, and they expected to challenge for a medal. It was devastating for the team, and all skating fans, when Marie-France and Patrice had to withdraw.
As a true testament to their work-ethic, competitive drive and determination as athletes, only weeks later, Marie-France and Patrice were skating better than ever at the World Figure Skating Championships in their home country of Canada, at the 2006 Worlds in Calgary. Throughout the competition, they were neck-and-neck with the talented Bulgarian team, and only narrowly missed out on a gold medal. Their second-place-finish, though maybe a bit bittersweet considering how close they were to gold, was still an impressive victory for them. Not only was it the team's first world medal, a dream for any elite athlete, they had done so with grace, sparkle, and heart, only weeks after a suffering a serious injury and the heartbreak of withdrawing from an Olympic Games. Marie-France and Patrice may have finished second, but they certainly won the hearts of the crowd, who recognized the scope of their accomplishment, and appreciated the beauty and emotion of their skating performance.
Marie-France and Patrice's freeskate was exquisite! Their performance was a magical moment in their careers. Anyone who witnessed it, in person, or on TV that night, will remember how their skating grabbed you by the heart from the first strains of music, and didn't let go until well after the final note. It was everything a skating performance should be. What a triumph on ice!
Enjoy!
Marie-France and Patrice's "Somewhere in Time" freeskate:
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