Danielle O'Brien (born 7 February 1990) is an Australian former competitive

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

. With partner

Gregory Merriman Gregory Merriman, also known as Greg, (born 3 October 1988) is an Australian former competitive ice dancer. With partner Danielle O'Brien, he is a six-time Australian senior national champion and three-time junior national champion. They have c ...

, she is a six-time Australian senior national champion and three-time junior national champion. They have competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and

Four Continents Championships The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (4CC) is an annual figure skating competition. The International Skating Union established it in 1999 to provide skaters representing non-African and non-European countries with a similar competit ...

since 2008, and have competed at three World Junior Championships. They became the first Australian ice dancers to reach the free dance at a

Career

Danielle O'Brien teamed up with

, who also skated at the Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, in April 1998. They were coached by Australian ice dancing champion Monica MacDonald in Sydney, Australia. In the 2009–10 season, they trained with former World champion

Victor Kraatz Victor Kraatz, (born April 7, 1971) is a Canadian former ice dancer. In 2003, he and his partner, Shae-Lynn Bourne, became the first North American ice dancers to win a World Championship. Personal life Born on April 7, 1971 in West Berlin, V ...

and Maikki Kraatz. O'Brien/Merriman withdrew from the

2009 Nebelhorn Trophy The 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy was held between September 23 and 26, 2009 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It served as the final Olympic qualifier to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skatin ...

, the final qualifying opportunity for the 2010 Winter Olympics, due to Merriman's diagnosis of pericarditis, a viral infection in the sac surrounding the heart. In the 2010–11 season, O'Brien/Merriman began training part-time in

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

under coaches

Anjelika Krylova Anjelika Alexeyevna Krylova (russian: Анжелика Алексеевна Крылова; born 4 July 1973) is a Russian retired Ice dancing, ice dancer. With partner Oleg Ovsyannikov, she is the 1998 Figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics, ...

, two-time World champion, and

Pasquale Camerlengo Pasquale Camerlengo (born 14 April 1966) is an Italian former competitive ice dancer who is now a coach and choreographer. With Stefania Calegari, he won gold medals at Skate America, Skate Canada, and the International de Paris, and placed fift ...

. They relocated to Detroit to train there full-time in late 2011. Although Merriman's heel of his boot separated during the preliminary round at the 2012 World Championships, they placed eighth out of 23 couples and qualified for the short dance, where they placed 20th and qualified for the free. O'Brien/Merriman became the first Australian team to qualify for the free dance at a World Championships. They finished 20th overall. In 2012–13, O'Brien/Merriman finished 7th at the US International Classic, 4th at the 2012 Ondrej Nepela Memorial, 8th at the

2012 NRW Trophy The 2012 NRW Trophy was an international figure skating competition during the 2012–2013 season. An annual event organized by the Skating Union of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eislauf Union and the Interna ...

and 4th at the 2012 Ice Challenge. In January 2013, they became the first Australian ice dancers to medal at an International event when they took bronze at the

Toruń Cup )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

in Poland. In February, O'Brien/Merriman competed at the 2013 Four Continents Championships where they finished with a personal best placement of eighth. They did not qualify for the 2013 World Championships due to new TES requirements. The

2013 Nebelhorn Trophy The 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy was held on September 26–28, 2013 at the Eislaufzentrum Oberstdorf. It is held annually in Oberstdorf, Germany and is named after the Nebelhorn, a nearby mountain. Medals were awarded in men's and ladies' singles, pair ...

was the last chance to qualify for the Olympics; O'Brien/Merriman finished sixth and earned a place for Australia in the Olympic ice dancing event. At the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

, they advanced to the free dance and finished 20th. They retired from competition on April 21, 2014.

Programs

(with Merriman)

Results

(with Merriman)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Danielle Australian female ice dancers 1990 births Living people Sportswomen from New South Wales Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Australia Figure skaters from Sydney