Ryan O'Meara (born January 5, 1984,

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

) is an American ice dancer. With partner

Jamie Silverstein Jamie Silverstein (born December 23, 1983) is an American former competitive ice dancer. With Justin Pekarek, she is the 2000 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 1999 World Junior champion, and 2000 U.S. silver medalist. With Ryan O'Meara, s ...

, he is a 2006 Olympian. Following his retirement from competitive skating, he began working full-time as a coach and an interior designer.

Career

O'Meara competed on the novice and junior levels with Melissa Ralph and Lia Nitake, having some success with them both. He won four straight medals at the U.S. Championships on the novice and junior levels between 1999 and 2002, two with Ralph and two with Nitake. He competed with Lydia Manon from 2003 to 2005. With Manon, he won the bronze medal at the 2005 U.S. Championships and at the 2005 Four Continents, following which Manon decided to end the partnership. He began training with Jamie Silverstein, a former World Junior Champion with

Justin Pekarek Justin Pekarek (born August 26, 1981) is an American former competitive ice dancer. With Jamie Silverstein, he is the 2000 Four Continents bronze medalist and 1999 World Junior champion. Personal life Pekarek was born on August 26, 1981, in ...

, in April 2005. They were coached by

Igor Shpilband Igor Yuryevich Shpilband (russian: Игорь Юрьевич Шпильбанд, born July 14, 1964) is an American ice dancing coach and former competitor for the Soviet Union. He is the 1983 World Junior champion with former partner Tatiana G ...

and

Marina Zueva Marina Olegovna Zoueva or Zueva (russian: Марина Олеговна Зуева; born 9 April 1956) is a Russian figure skating coach, choreographer, and former competitor in ice dancing. Representing the Soviet Union with Andrei Vitman, she ...

Canton, Michigan Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659. Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...

. Silverstein and O'Meara had sudden success. They were sent as a host entry to the

2005 Skate America The 2005 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2005–06 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 20–23. ...

, their first international competition together as a team, and placed 5th. They won the bronze medal at the 2006 U.S. Championships, which qualified them for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

and the 2006 Four Continents Championships. They competed at the Four Continents and placed 6th. At the Olympics, they placed 18th in the compulsory dance, 16th in the original dance, and 18th in the

free dance Free dance is a 20th-century dance form that preceded modern dance. Rebelling against the rigid constraints of classical ballet, Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis (with her work in theater) developed their own styles of free dance ...

, placing 16th overall out of 23 teams. They chose not to compete at the 2006 World Championships. U.S. pewter medalists

Morgan Matthews Morgan Matthews may refer to: * Morgan Matthews (figure skater), American ice dancer *Morgan Matthews (filmmaker) Morgan Matthews is an English, BAFTA award-winning documentary director. He is the founder of Minnow Films. Matthews' early work ...

and

Maxim Zavozin Maxim Igorevich Zavozin (russian: Максим Игоревич Завозин; born March 2, 1985) is a former competitive ice dancer who appeared internationally for the United States and Hungary. With Nóra Hoffmann for Hungary, he is the 2010 ...

were sent in their place. In the spring of 2006, Silverstein and O'Meara announced they would be taking time off from competitive skating. Their partnership ended soon after and O'Meara retired from competitive skating.

Personal life

O'Meara works as a coach. He owns an interior design business called "Palavela Home", which is named after the

Palavela Palavela, formerly known as Palazzo delle Mostre and Palazzo a Vela is an indoor arena that is located in Turin, Italy, on the bank of the River Po. It was designed by engineer Franco Levi and architects Annibale and Giorgio Rigotti. The aren ...

, the venue for the figure skating competition at the Olympics. O'Meara is openly gay.

Competitive highlights

With Silverstein

With Manon

With Ralph

With Nitake

Programs

(with Silverstein) (with Manon)

References

External links

O'Meara's interior design companyOfficial Silverstein/O'Meara Website
* * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omeara, Ryan 1984 births American male ice dancers Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Living people Olympic figure skaters for the United States American LGBT dancers American gay sportsmen Gay dancers LGBT figure skaters Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Houston LGBT people from Texas Sportspeople from Scottsdale, Arizona LGBT people from Arizona