Mao Asada, the 2008 world champion from Nagoya, Japan, has been one of the world’s top figure skaters for several years. She is known for her ability to land a clean triple axel, the most daunting jump for a female skater.
Asada, 19, started out as a ballet dancer but switched to figure skating, following her sister, Mai, who is two years older. The change served both of them well, as Mai is also an elite figure skater. But Mao became the biggest star in the family — and one of the biggest in Japan.

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Joubert is the first Frenchman to become World Champion since Alain Calmat’s 1965 victory. He was also the first French male to win the European title in 40 years when he took the gold in 2004. Brian stepped on the ice for the first time at 4, at the rink of Poitiers, following the steps of his elder sisters. He liked the contact with the ice immediately, and even though he started with hockey, he later switched to figure skating (still, he sometimes puts on the old pick-less skates after a practice session).

“If I win in at the Olympics, I will continue to compete. And if I don’t win, I will continue to compete.”

Date of Birth: September 20, 1984
Place of Birth: Poitiers
Height: 179 cm
Hometown: Poitiers
Hobbies: Bowling, motorcycling
Started Skating: 1988

He rapidly took part in competitions, including a in ice dancing with his sister. He showed great skill at an early age, and around age 7 Véronique Guyon-Desgardin paid him notice; though not the most successful skater in his age group, he already had a fighting spirit and didn’t spend his time close to the board. Véronique was his coach until 2002. From 2002 until 2004 his coach was Laurent Depouilly, and starting with the summer of 2004, Brian worked with former European, World and Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin. Had he not persevered in figure skating, Brian would have nonetheless practiced a sport, like fencing.
He is the 2007 World Champion, a three-time European champion, a six-time French National champion, and the 2006 Grand Prix champion. As of December 2009, Joubert is ranked fourth in the world.
Brian retains a normal school schedule, majoring in science. He concentrated more on skating during the 2001-2002 season as he skated at Europeans (bronze medal) and World Championships, and at the Olympic Games. In the long term, Brian hopes to earn his coaching diploma and, maybe someday, become the manager of the French Team. He’s always looking to the future; already a European champ, he hopes to become a World champion (he earned a silver last year) as well as an Olympic champion.

His best element in skating : jumps with four rotations, if possible. The loop is his least-favored jump, even though he has already landed it in combination after a triple flip. Besides the jumps, another element he likes is the simple forward crossovers, because “when you do them right you don’t feel the ice anymore”.
Joubert, in fact, is known for his strong jumping ability. He has a consistent quadruple salchow jump and a quadruple toe loop jump. At the 2006 Cup of Russia competition, Joubert landed three quadruple jumps in his free skate: two toe loops (one in combination) and a salchow. Joubert has stated in interviews that he considers quadruple jumps to be important for the future of figure skating.
Joubert often wears a necklace with many charms which he rotates in and out. One of those charms has three gold stones representing his goals: world, European and Olympic gold. Joubert’s programs are difficult, upbeat and entertaining, making him a crowd favorite and a contrast to the intense, classical programs presented by some of the top men. “It’s important to have success with the girls,” Joubert said to reporters in 2006, after being mobbed by fans after a practice session. “They like me physically… they like my face.”

Joubert enters the 2010 Olympics as a heavy favorite for a medal. But he’ll need his quads to be consistent and he’s struggled with that jump this season. Joubert told the French press in September of 2009, “The goal is to go to Vancouver for the gold medal. I get up every morning to be Olympic champion…When I was 10 years old, I said I want to be European, world and Olympic champion. I’ve been European and world champion, not Olympic champion. That’s my main goal. I know I can do it. In 2006, I was not ready to be Olympic champion. I have more experience, and I feel I can improve so that’s why I don’t want to stop.”

Brian Joubert’s Official Website

Brian Joubert’s Facebook Page 

Fans might have to look back as far as Peggy Fleming in 1968 for a bigger Olympic gold medal favorite in figure skating than Kim Yu-na of South Korea.
Kim, 19, crushed her competition at the 2009 world championships by more than 16 points, seeming to float above the ice, making each difficult maneuver look easy. One of her spins received no points, but she still scored 207.71 overall to become the first female figure skater to break 200 points. Read the rest of this entry »

Savchenko and Szolkowy were the first German skaters to win a European title in 12 years when they took the gold in 2007, and the first Germans to win Worlds in 11 years.

Savchenko and Szolkowy won the 2004 German Nationals after skating together for just a few months.

She began skating when she was only three years old, he did it at the age of four.

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While the moment now belongs to 20-year-old Kim, Kwak represents the future of Korean figure skating. She definitely has the potential to be a medal contender in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. She is one of a few Korean figure skaters who can execute difficult triple jumps with ease, and her slender figure, emotional expressions, and unwavering confidence on the ice resemble those of Kim.

Kwak Min-Jung (born January 23, 1994 in Seoul) is a South Korean figure skater.

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Kevin van der Perren first strapped on his skates at the age of ten, inspired by his visit to a traveling ice show. It would be an understatement to say he’s come a long way. When van der Perren earned the bronze at the 2007 European Championships, he became the first Belgian man to do so in 50 years. He was also the first Belgian skater ever to medal at the Junior World Championships (silver, 2002).

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Initially they communicated only by letter, then Maxim traveled to Odintsovo from Togliatti, where he was skating during the previous season, “to give it a try”. The pair officially formed in May 2002, when they started skating together under the guidance of coach Alexei Gorshkov and choreographer Sergei Petukhov. It was the beginning of a very successful career that saw them crowned as winners of the 2007 Grand Prix Final and the 2008 European Championship. In the summer of 2008 the skaters made the important decision to change their coaching team, and shortly afterward moved to the U.S. to train with Natalia Linichuk and Gennadij Karponosov.

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Chinese pair skaters Qing Pang and Jian Tong have had a very successful career thus far. They were the 2006 World Champions, they are the current and four-time Four Continents Champions, and have medaled at 20 out of 29 Grand Prix events (including the Finals) since 1999.

Now the team is looking forward to the upcoming Olympic year, which probably will be, according to their current plans, their last competitive season.

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