
Basic Facts:
Her |
Him |
Born
on the 5th of May 1969
Birthplace : Dijon
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Born
on the 20th of July 1968
Birthplace: à Thonon
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Trainer:
Danielle Marotel
Club: CPH Dijon
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Their History together:
Sophie Moniotte skated first with
Emmanuel Col, at the Dijon Skating club, while Pascal
Lavanchy was with Isabelle Marcellin, at
Morzine. After a national training session in Morzine,
during August 1985, they were teamed up and followed
by Anne Corlay. In July 1988, they were picked by
Danielle Marotel, national trainer and went
with her to train in Paris.
Their career together is a long lasting story
of 12 years. With their two different temperaments,
Sophie and Pascal were a magnificent couple on the
ice.
Her: thin, blond haired, light, fizzy and
bright on the ice.
Him: calm and steady, a lot perfectionist
et rigorous.
They started to emerge in the wake of the
Duchesnays in the nineties, when these two
began their "revolution" in the
ice dance worldwide and went to conquer the podiums
.
More classical and less disturbing with their
elegant style, their high technicality in steps,
Sophie Moniotte and Pascal Lavanchy tried to develop
their sportive and artistic qualities as well as
their own personality with the help of Danielle
Marotel and sometimes the help of *strangers*: Betty
Callaway (the English tradition) and Tatiana
Tarassova (Russian inspiration), and eventually
with the collaboration of the Russian choreographer
Natacha Dabbadie, to build up their free programs.
They allied the strength of their technique
with the charm and the fizzy personality of Sophie,
trying all register possible of dance (modern, classical...)
and claimed the seal of a French couple, image of
seduction and estheticism, with their soft ice touch.
Their 1994 Free Program for the 1994 Olympic Games
(5th) on the theme "Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire"
was their best ever.
Second to the Duchesnays, they first had
to learn patience and perseverance. Then, after
the Duchesnays went pros in 1992, they had to fight
to impose their style to the international judges,
and also a school of courage because of Sophie's
fragility, already badly injured in 1990.
On October 19th 1995, she had to face a new
injury: fracture of one bone in her foot while they
were practicing in Colombes. Bad Luck, because
they had finally stroke at the best places: silver
medal in Chiba (Japon) in 1994 next to
the Russians Olympic champions untouchable: Oksana
Gritschuk-Evgeny Platov ; bronze medal in Birmingham
in 1995, behind Oksana Gritschuk-Evgeny Platov
and the Finnish Susanna Rahkamo-Petri Kokko.
During a year and a half, Sophie Moniotte
and Pascal Lavanchy were out of the international
scene. They tried to make a come back during the
1996-97 winter, because of the Olympic Games in
Nagano, and believing they had a chance at
a medal. But their younger teammates Marina
Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, was on an
unstopping rise. This rivalry even deprived France
of a world medal in 1997 because it was an opportunity
for rival nations (Russia and Canada). Sophie Moniotte
and Pascal Lavanchy, after their long absence had
anyway won another European medal in Paris, 1997
and took the 4th place at Worlds, in Lausanne.
But during the Olympic year, they fell down
the rankings, a sad and unfortunate story.
Marina
Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat already took
their French title, because they had lost their
usual sharpness and brightness due to Sophie's injuries.
They had to settle for a 7th place finish
in Milan Europeans in 1998. Completely
unhelped after that by their own judges at
the Olympics in Nagano, they fell at an undeserved
11th place.
They decided to stop skating soon after the event,
disgusted with their own sport.
They haven't started a professional career
together. Pascal Lavanchy helped Philippe
Candeloro with the organization of his tour
while Sophie Moniotte took her distances
with the ice skating world. Both are still
doing motor racing competitions and Pascal has even
started a promising career as a stuntman in Rémy
Julienne team, the best in the world of spate.
Source:The French
Federation
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