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Brian Joubert Profile |
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Birth Date: September 20, 1984
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Birth Place: Poitiers, France
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Birth Name: Brian Joubert
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Height: 5'11"
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Biography |
Brian Joubert (born September 20, 1984) is a French figure
skater. He is the 2007 World Champion, the 2004 and 2007
European champion, the five time French National champion,
and the 2006 Grand Prix champion.
Joubert was born in Poitiers, France to Jean-Michel and
Raymonde Joubert. He suffered a life-threatening illness at
the age of 11 months, which led to the removal of one
kidney. Because of this illness, Joubert chose figure
skating over more violent sports that he favored. He began
skating at the age of four with his two older sisters. The
siblings started out with ice-dancing, but Joubert became
fascinated with the jumping aspect of singles skating and
switched disciplines.
Joubert has been considered somewhat of a heartthrob in his
native country, France. This reputation has been contributed
to by Joubert's short relationship with former Miss France,
Lætitia Bléger.
Joubert is a sponsor for an association for children with
Williams syndrome. In March 2006, Joubert published his
biography, 'Brian Joubert: le feu de la glace', in French
Joubert trained for 15 years with Veronique Guyon because of
his desire to remain close to his family in Poitiers. Guyon
resigned from her position in the summer of 2003 due to her
desire to spend more time with her family. Joubert then
started training for the 2003-04 season with Laurent
Depouilly, and took on Alexei Yagudin as his 'advisor'.
Joubert parted ways with Yagudin because of Yagudin's
dislike of Nikolai Morozov, Joubert's choreographer.
Because of a lack of support from his current coach, Joubert
fired Depouilly and returned to Guyon for a brief period of
time. However, Guyon's demands that Joubert stop working
with his mother and that she should get paid by receiving
10% of his prize money from the 2005-06 season caused their
relationship to further deteriorate, and Joubert parted ways
with Guyon on October 2003. Joubert switched to Andrei
Berenzitsev, but as of September 2006, is coached by
Jean-Christophe Simond.
Joubert has also received criticism over his association
with Didier Gailhaguet, the former head of the French
skating organization. However, Joubert credits Gailhaguet as
having helped his career enormously.
In his debut at the 2002 European Championships, Joubert won
the bronze medal. In 2004, Joubert became the first
Frenchman to become European Champion in 40 years. At his
second Olympic Games, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin,
Italy, he finished sixth overall. He has also won the silver
medal in the World Championships in 2004 and 2006.
For the 2006-2007 Grand Prix season, Joubert was assigned to
compete in Trophée Eric Bompard and Cup of Russia, and
placed first in both events. He went on to win the ISU Grand
Prix Final in Saint Petersburg. Joubert reclaimed his
European title at the 2007 European Figure Skating
Championships.
Joubert is known for his strong jumping ability. He has a
consistent quadruple salchow and a quadruple toe loop. At
the 2006 Cup of Russia competition, Joubert joined an elite
group of men's skaters by landing three quadruple jumps--two
toe loops and a salchow--in his long program.
Joubert has been criticized for the lack of variety in his
spins, but this area has shown a marked improvement because
of Joubert's work with Swiss skater Lucinda Ruh starting at
the 2005-2006 season. |
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Other Information |
French figure skater, winning the men's competition at the
2004 European Championships.
Runner-up at the 2004 and 2006 World Championships.
Third child of Jean-Michael and Raymonde Joubert.
After changing his trainer several times, he is currently
coached by Jean-Christophe Simond. |
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