Isabelle Duchesnay (born December 18, 1963 in

Aylmer, Quebec Aylmer is a former city in Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of the Ottawa River and along Route 148. In January 2002, it amalgamated into the city of Gatineau, which is part of Canada's National Capital Region. Aylmer's popul ...

, Canada) is a retired

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 ...

who represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

for most of her career. With her brother

Paul Duchesnay Paul Duchesnay (born 31 July 1961 in Metz) is a retired ice dancer who represented France for most of his career. With his sister Isabelle Duchesnay, he is the 1991 World champion and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist. Career The Duchesnay ...

, she is the 1991 World champion and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist.

Career

The Duchesnays started skating at an early age in Canada in

pairs Concentration, also known as Memory, Shinkei-suijaku (Japanese meaning "nervous breakdown"), Matching Pairs, Match Match, Match Up, Pelmanism, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and tw ...

. Their first major success came at the 1982 Canadian Nationals, where they placed second in the junior competition. After a serious accident where Isabelle hit her head, they switched to ice dancing. Over time, the Duchesnays’ skating became more innovative and revolutionary with help from 1984 Olympic champion

Christopher Dean Christopher Colin Dean, OBE (born 27 July 1958) is a British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Early life Dean grew u ...

. After

Skate Canada Skate Canada ( Canadian French: ''Patinage Canada'', lit. "Skating Canada") is the national governing body for figure skating in Canada, recognized by the International Skating Union and the Canadian Olympic Committee. It organizes the annual ...

criticized their skating, they decided to leave the Canadian team. In 1985, they began skating for their mother’s homeland,

. They were coached by

Martin Skotnicky Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austra ...

, based in Obertsdorf, Germany. The Duchesnays'

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

programs were considered unusual. Their free dance, a jungle-inspired dance set to drums, was not well received by judges and they finished eighth overall. Despite the judges’ reactions, the Duchesnays continued skating in their unusual and innovative style. They placed third and second in the 1989 and 1990 World Championships, respectively. They won their only World title at the 1991 Worlds in

Munich, Germany Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. The Duchesnays were favoured to win gold at the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

Albertville, France Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

. They won the silver medal behind

Marina Klimova Marina Vladimirovna Klimova (russian: Марина Владимировна Климова; born 28 July 1966) is a former competitive ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union and the Unified Team. With skating partner and husband Se ...

and

Sergei Ponomarenko Sergei Vladilenovich Ponomarenko (russian: Серге́й Владиленович Пономаренко; born October 6, 1960) is a Russian former competitive Ice dancing, ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union and the Unified Te ...

. The Duchesnays then retired from amateur competition and competed professionally until Paul suffered a serious rollerblading accident in 1996. In 1996, the Duchesnays were nominated for a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

in Best Performance - Performing Arts Program or Series for their performance in "The Planets". Isabelle Duchesnay wrote a book, ''Notre passion (Sports pour tous)'', in 1992.

Personal life

Isabelle Duchesnay was born to a French mother and Canadian father. She also had an elder brother, Gaston who died in 1991. She married British ice dancer

in 1991; they divorced in 1993.

Results

(ice dance with

)

Amateur Career Programs

References

External links

The Duchesnays at Figure Skating Corner
* ttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/ice_skating/index.html?offset=70&query=FRANCE&field=geo&match=exact New York Times articles on the Duchesnaysbr>Care to Ice Dance? - Duchesnay & Duchesnay
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duchesnay, Isabelle 1963 births Living people Canadian female ice dancers French female ice dancers Olympic figure skaters of France Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for France Sportspeople from Gatineau French Quebecers Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics