Matthew Savoie

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**Matt Savoie**
Personal Info

Country:	United States
Residence:	Peoria, Illinois
Height:	175 cm
Coach:	Linda Branan
Skating Club:	Illinois Valley FSC
ISU Personal Best Scores
Short + Free Total:	206.67	2006 XX Olympics
Short Program:	75.64	2006 Four CC
Free Skate:	137.52	2006 XX Olympics

Most Recent Results:
Event	Points	Finish	Year
Olympic Winter Games	206.67	7th	2006
World Championships	227.41	11th	2006
Four Continents	190.15	3rd	2006
National Championships	222.36	3rd	2006

Matthew Savoie (born September 12, 1980, in Peoria, Illinois), is an American figure skater. He is a three-time US National bronze medalist, the 2006 Four Continents bronze medalist and a member of the 2006 Olympic team.

1 Biography
2 Competitive highlights
3 External links
4 See also

[edit] Biography

Matthew Savoie first gained prominence when he won the gold medal as a junior at the 1997 United States Figure Skating Championships. He went on to place in the top five at every U.S. Figure Skating Championships between 1999 and 2006, winning bronze medals in 2001, 2004, and 2006 and pewter medals in 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2005.

He has won bronze medals at the Junior Grand Prix Final, the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, and the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. He has represented the United States three times at the World Figure Skating Championships.

Savoie was the first alternate to the 2002 Olympic team. He earned a chance to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics team by finishing third at US Nationals. Savoie finished seventh overall in Torino, with two solid skates.

Savoie was raised in Peoria, Illinois, and trained there with coach Linda Branan throughout his career. He has also worked with coach Gene Hefron and choreographer Tom Dickson.

Savoie is rare among elite skaters for his commitment to higher education. He graduated summa cum laude from Bradley University in 2002, with a major in political science and a minor in biology. He went on to earn his master's degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005 and received the AICP Outstanding Graduate Student Award for 2005. He was admitted to the law school at Cornell University in 2005, but obtained a deferral for a year to focus on making the Olympic team. He joined the program in September 2006. While Savoie has not given up his Olympic eligibility, he does not plan to compete during the 2006-07 season and will focus instead on law school.

In the summer of 2006, Savoie was appointed the athlete representative to the singles and pairs technical committees of the International Skating Union. [1]

[edit] Competitive highlights

Event	1995-1996	1996-1997	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006
Winter Olympic Games											7th
World Championships							12th		16th		11th
Four Continents						4th	5th			5th	3rd
U.S. Championships	4th N.	1st J.	11th	4th	4th	3rd	4th	5th	3rd	4th	3rd
Grand Prix Final						3rd
Skate Canada International						3rd					5th
Cup of China										8th	7th
Skate America					5th		6th	3rd
Bofrost Cup					3rd					3rd
NHK Trophy									9th
Cup of Russia						3rd	4th	5th
Skate Detroit						1st
World Junior Championships				4th	3rd
ISU Junior Grand Prix Final			3rd	6th
China Junior International				4th
Grand Prix St. Gervais			2nd	3rd
Pokal der Blauen Schwerter			1st
Gardena Winter Trophy			1st
Midwestern Sectionals	4th N.	3rd J.	3rd		2nd
Upper Great Lakes Regionals	1st N.	1st J.	1st