Nathalie Péchalat Biography
Nathalie Péchalat (born 22 December 1983) is a French retired ice dancer and skating official, who served as the president of the Fédération française des sports de glace from 2020 to 2022. During her competitive career with partner Fabian Bourzat, she was a two-time World bronze medalist (2012, 2014), a two-time European champion (2011–2012), and a five-time French national champion (2009, 2011–2014).
They won five medals at the Grand Prix Final (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and thirteen other Grand Prix medals, including three golds at Cup of China and two at Trophée Eric Bompard. Nathalie Péchalat was born 22 December 1983 in Rouen, France. She has an older brother and two sisters. She obtained a BSc degree in sports management and later pursued graduate studies at Emlyon Business School.
While training in Moscow, she studied at the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation, a prestigious Russian university for economics and finance. She intends to pursue a career in business after her competitive retirement, with a preference for a company involved in sports. Péchalat is married to French actor Jean Dujardin.
Their relationship began in 2014. The couple's first daughter, Jeanne, was born on 5 December 2015. They married on 19 May 2018 in a small ceremony. Their second daughter, Alice, was born on 18 February 2021. Nathalie Péchalat began skating at the age of seven, originally as a singles skater. At the age of ten, she switched to ice dancing after her coach, Anne Sophie Druet, suggested she was suited for the discipline and her son was looking for a partner.
Péchalat competed with Julien Deheinzelin on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series in autumn 1997 and 1998. She broke her arm in 1998 and missed six weeks of skating during her three-month recovery. She competed with Michael Zenezini in the 1999–2000 season. He ended their partnership. In March 2000, Muriel Zazoui suggested Péchalat team up with Fabian Bourzat.
The two did not get along well at first but became friends over time. In a 2011 interview, Péchalat said they had different personalities but that he was the ideal skating partner for her: "He is very gifted. He works through feeling and inspiration. As soon as he feels a move, he can reproduce it and interpret it. He does not need to intellectualize.
" According to Bourzat, "Nathalie is always pulling the couple ahead and pushing us to work. She brings her extraordinary capacity to work. She always wants to do everything perfectly." Péchalat/Bourzat were coached by Muriel Boucher-Zazoui and Romain Haguenauer from 2000 to mid-2008 in Lyon, France. From 2000 to 2003, they also worked with Pasquale Camerlengo.
They skated as juniors for two years, winning two Junior Grand Prix medals, before moving to seniors at the beginning of the 2002–03 season. Péchalat/Bourzat won bronze medals at the 2003 and 2005 Winter Universiade. They made their Worlds debut in 2004, finishing 20th, and their Europeans debut in 2005, placing 12th. The duo competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they came in 18th.
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