Former Olympics ice dancing champs Gwendal Peizerat and Marina Anissina of France announced that they’ll reunite for a surprise comeback in hopes of qualifying for next year’s Sochi Games a full twelve years after retiring.
“We got an offer from the French figure skating federation and the French sports ministry about taking part in the Olympic Games in Sochi,” Moscow-born skater Anissina told R-Sport.
“In my view, it’s very interesting and tempting. If the Olympics weren’t taking place in Russia, I’d have let this news pass me by, probably. But it’s like this – we have the desire and the strength.”
Peizerat, 41, and Anissina, 37, last competed at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, and have been dancing at exhibition shows ever since. They’re much older than all of their competitors, and older than the current Olympics scoring system, of which they don’t seem to be very big fans.
“With this judging system you could even teach a bear to skate,” Anissina opined. “No one wants to do anything new, unusual, or creative. I’ve understood, in the end, that you can think something up.”
But it’s not as easy as just saying you’re going to compete: Peizerat and Anissina will have to earn one of France’s two available Olympics spots, one of which should surely be secured by two-time European champs and World Champion bronze medalists Nathalie Pechalat and Fabien Bourzat.
So they’ll have to beat Pernelle Carron and Lloyd Jones, who took twelfth at Worlds earlier this year.
