Jonathon O'Dougherty (born 22 February 1978), is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

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 competed for Britain with his wife, Pamela O'Connor.

Personal life

O'Dougherty was born in Wrexham, Wales on 22 February 1978. He graduated from South Nottingham College in 2004 with a degree in Sports Science. He now studies at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

. He has one brother, who also skated competitively. O'Connor and O'Dougherty moved to California in 2004, then moved to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

in 2007, where they married. They moved back to California in 2009, where they coached at Sharks Ice in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. They then moved to

Bozeman, MT Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

where O'Dougherty serves as the Skating Director for the Gallatin Ice Foundation.

Career

O'Dougherty started to skate at age twelve. He was initially a singles skater. After switching to ice dancing. In 1995, he teamed up with O'Connor. They won the bronze medal at the British Junior ice dance championships in their first year together. O'Connor and O'Dougherty competed at one World Championships, finishing 19th in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, and twice at the European Championships, finishing 16th in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and 14th in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. They won medals at several internationals –

Finlandia Trophy The Finlandia Trophy is a senior-level international figure skating competition. Since 1995, it is held annually in Finland in Greater Helsinki region, including Helsinki, Vantaa, and Espoo. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014� ...

Pavel Roman Memorial The Pavel Roman Memorial ( cs, Memoriál Pavla Romana) is an international ice dancing competition organized by the Czech Skating Association. Named after Pavel Roman, the competition is held annually in Olomouc, Czech Republic The Czech Re ...

Ondrej Nepela Memorial The Nepela Memorial ( sk, Memoriál Ondreja Nepelu), formerly known as the Ondrej Nepela Trophy in 2013–15 & 2017 and the Ondrej Nepela Memorial, is an annual senior-level international figure skating competition. Named after 1972 Olympic cham ...

, and Golden Spin of Zagreb – and one senior

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

title. They trained in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

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 ...

until they moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to train with

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 ...

and

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 ...

, Olympic gold medalists. In 1999, O'Dougherty appeared in

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

' music video for "She's the One". O'Connor and O'Dougherty retired from competitive skating in 2005. They appeared in the 2006 Australian TV show,

Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice ''Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice'' was an Australian reality television series which was based on the original British version, '' Dancing on Ice''. The series premiered on the Nine Network on Tuesday, 11 July 2006 at , and involved celebri ...

. O'Dougherty's celebrity partner,

Giaan Rooney Giaan Leigh Rooney, OAM (born 15 November 1982) is an Australian former competitive swimmer and television personality. As a member of the Australian team in women's 4×100-metre medley relay, she won an Olympic gold medal and broke a world ...

, injured her ankle before the second episode. O'Connor and O'Dougherty coach at the Sharks Ice in

. They have coached several ice dancers and singles skaters, including Madeline Heritage and Nathan Fast, and Katie Dano.

Programs

(with O'Connor)

Competitive highlights

(with O'Connor)

References

External links

*
Pam & Jonathon O'Dougherty
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odougherty, Jonathon 1978 births British male ice dancers Welsh ice dancers Living people Sportspeople from Wrexham