Gwendal Peizerat

Gwendal Peizerat
Peizerat and partner Marina Anissina compete in 2001.
Personal information
Country represented	France
Born	(1972-04-21) April 21, 1972
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Partner	Marina Anissina
Former partner	Marina Morel
Former coach	Muriel Boucher-Zazoui
Skating club	CSG Lyon
Medal record Figure skating Ice dancing Competitor for  France Olympic Games Gold 2002 Salt Lake City Ice dancing Bronze 1998 Nagano Ice dancing World Championships Silver 2001 Vancouver Ice dancing Gold 2000 Nice Ice dancing Silver 1999 Helsinki Ice dancing Silver 1998 Minneapolis Ice dancing European Championships Gold 2002 Lausanne Ice dancing Silver 2001 Bratislava Ice dancing Gold 2000 Vienna Ice dancing Silver 1999 Prague Ice dancing Bronze 1998 Milan Ice dancing Grand Prix Final Silver 2001-2002 Kitchener Ice dancing Gold 1999-2000 Lyon Ice dancing Silver 1998-1999 St. Petersburg Ice dancing Bronze 1997-1998 Munich Ice dancing Bronze 1996-1997 Hamilton Ice dancing

Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Competitor for  France
Bronze	1998 Nagano	Figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics – Ice dancing
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Ice dancing

Gwendal Peizerat (born April 21, 1972 in Bron, France) is a French ice dancer. With Marina Anissina, he is the 2002 Olympic champion, the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2000 World Champion, and a six-time French National Champion.

Career

Peizerat started skating at age four^[1] when he and his sister, then six, followed their parents to the skating club at the rink. His father was the general secretary of the French skating federation and his mother was in charge of the skating club in Lyon.^[1] He went into ice dancing straight away. He was coached by Muriel Boucher-Zazoui since the age of six and throughout his entire career.^[2][3] She paired seven-year-old Peizerat with his first partner, French skater Marina Morel, who was the same age as him; Morel and Peizerat skated together for fourteen years.^[3] They won bronze at the 1990 World Junior Championships and then silver the following year. Morel retired in 1992 so Peizerat responded to a letter he had received a few months earlier from Russian World Junior champion Marina Anissina, who chose him after watching competitions on video.^[3]

Anissina arrived in Lyon in February 1993 and wanted to take him to Russia but his family objected.^[3] She settled in France, focusing intensely on skating and insisting her partner, who was dividing his time between skating and his education, be equally focused on their career.^[3] Their first year together was difficult; they had major quarrels and came close to splitting up.^[3] Nevertheless, their coach Muriel Boucher-Zazoui immediately felt it was a promising partnership, saying "They are like fire and ice".^[2]

Anissina and Peizerat won the 1998 Olympic bronze medal and 1998 and 1999 World silver medals behind Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov. The Russians retired due to injury and Anissina and Peizerat then developed a rivalry with the Italians Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio. The French won the 2000 European and World Championships.^[4] In 2001, Anissina and Peizerat won European and World silver behind the Italians but surged past them in 2002 to reclaim their European title and become the Olympic Champions. At the 2002 Olympics, they led after the compulsory dances and the original dance. Their free dance, Liberty, mixed music with sections from the famed freedom speech by Martin Luther King Jr.; a 5-4 split of the judges' panel had them in first place in this segment ahead of Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh, and they became the first French ice dancers to win the Olympic gold medal.^[5]

After the Olympics, Anissina and Peizerat ended their competitive skating careers. The two continued skating together for many years in shows around the world.^[6] Both have also worked as choreographers.^[7]

They skated for the club Lyon TSC. Their signature move is a "reverse lift", wherein Anissina lifts Peizerat off the ice, rather than vice versa. This set the two apart from other dance couples, as most lifts in ice dance involve the man lifting the

2013 Comeback

In 2013 after Anissina expressed and interest in a comeback for the 2014 Sochi Olympics Peizerat said he would join her.^[8]

Post-skating career

In 2010, Gwendal Peizerat was elected regional councillor on the list of the Socialist Party in the Rhone Alpes region and was subsequently appointed Councillor Delegate in charge of sports in the Regional Executive headed by Jean-Jack Queyranne.

Programs

(with Anissina)^[9]

Competitive highlights

With Anissina

With Morel

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gwendal Peizerat.

• Gwendal Peizerat at the International Skating Union
• http://figureskating.online.fr/anissina-peizerat.htm (English)

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