Figure Skating

France's Isabelle Delobel warned Saturday that the recent birth of her baby will not hamper her and ice dancing partner Olivier Schoenfelder's bid for Olympic gold but would give them the edge over their rivals in Vancouver.

Former world ice dancing champion Delobel, whose husband Ludovic Roux was a bronze medal winner in the nordic combined team event in Nagano in 1998, gave birth to her first child, a baby boy named Lois, in early October.

But despite her pregnancy, Delobel and Schoenfelder continued training together until early August, and the 31-year-old will return to the ice on October 26 - three weeks after giving birth.

"I've prepared mentally for all that was going to happen," she explained.

"The emotion won't be negative in any way for us. For a gold at the Olympics, to be better than everyone else, you need that extra little something on the level of emotion."

"We really believe we can do it with Olivier. It's an all consuming dream.
"I think this baby will be a strength for us going to Vancouver. I'm going to also be trying to get gold for the baby."

Delobel said that she was in contact with other athletes, including France's two-time Olympic fencing champion Laura Flessel and Norwegian biathlete Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poiree, who both got back to winning form after giving birth.

Apart from the pregnancy, Delobel has also had to deal with a shoulder injury that forced them to drop out of their world title defence last year.
The pair, who have not competed since December 2008, will skip the Grand Prix series, which opens with the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris this weekend, to focus on the European Championships in January, a month ahead of the Winter Olympics.

Delobel said: "My pregnancy went very well and my shoulder is fine too so I'm feeling in very good shape now.

"In two weeks I'll have a medical check up to see if flexibility has returned. First we'll concentrate on the technical elements and footwork. Elements like lifts will come later.

"I think that in three months we're going to be able to present something very strong at Europeans to go for gold in Vancouver."

Schoenfelder admitted that the news of the pregnancy, as they prepared to cap their 20-year skating partnership with an Olympic title, came as a shock.

"Of course it was a big surprise," he said.

"In one way I was happy for Isabelle. I'm a father and know it's very important to have a baby.

"But it was difficult because the preparation for the Olympic Games and the last goal of our career was difficult to achieve. I think the 20 years we've spent together and all this experience and this crazy dream helped."
Their programme for the Original Dance will be the French Cancan and Jacques Brel's 'La Quete' in the free programme.

"We put our soul into the free programme which is like a conclusion to our 20 years working together," added Delobel.

The pair competed in the last two Winter Games, finishing fourth in Turin, and will be looking to complete their set of titles after being crowned world champions in 2008.