Brian Joubert - WikiHQ

Brian Joubert (; born 20 September 1984) is a French figure skating coach and former competitor. He is the 2007 World champion, a three-time (2004, 2007 & 2009) European champion, and the 2006–07 Grand Prix Final champion. On the domestic level, he is an eight-time (2003–2008, 2011, 2012) French National champion.

In total, he is a six-time World medalist, a ten-time European medalist, and competed in four Winter Olympics for France.

Joubert is one of the four male skaters who achieved a Grand Slam, winning all major international competitions throughout the same season, as well as the first man to land 100 quadruple jumps in international competitions.

Personal life

Brian Joubert was born in Poitiers, Vienne to Raymonde and Jean-Michel Joubert. He has two older sisters, Sarah and Alexandra. He suffered a life-threatening illness at the age of 11 months, which led to the removal of one kidney. Joubert turned senior following the 2000–2001 season.

Senior career

2001–2006

thumb|left|180px|Joubert at the 2004 Europeans

Joubert made his international senior debut at the 2001 Skate America, where he placed 9th. At French Nationals, he won the bronze medal, qualifying him for the 2002 European Championships. At the Europeans, Joubert surprised many by winning the bronze medal, and finished 14th. He rose one spot to 13th at the 2002 World Championships the following month.

Joubert improved upon his debut season in 2002–2003. Following the withdrawal of Alexei Yagudin from 2002 Skate America due to a hip injury, Joubert won the event; it was his first international title. Combined with a fifth-place finish at the 2002 Trophée Lalique, he qualified for his first Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where he won the bronze medal. Joubert also won the French national championships that season, the first of six consecutive titles. He was the silver medalist at the 2003 Europeans and placed 6th at the 2003 Worlds.

In the 2003–2004 season, Joubert once again won a medal on the Grand Prix circuit. At the 2004 European Championships, he became the first Frenchman to win the event in 40 years and the first non-Russian to win the event since 1996. He won his first World medal, a silver, at that year's World Championships.

The 2004–2005 season started well for Joubert; he won two Grand Prix medals and was the silver medalist at the 2005 European Championships, but dropped to 6th at the World Championships. Joubert fought back in 2005-2006, but had inconsistent results: he won two Grand Prix medals but did not qualify for the final, and won the bronze medal at the 2006 Europeans. Billed by the French media as a top medal contender for the Olympics, He returned to the ice only a few days later He finished 3rd in the long program, but had built up enough of a lead in the short program to win overall, with a then-personal best score of 240.85. French daily evening newspaper Le Monde and French nationwide daily sports newspaper L'Équipe put him on the front page. Although he continued to suffer from fatigue for several weeks afterward, Joubert was able to win his sixth consecutive national title; at that point, he had won ten consecutive events over two seasons. At the 2008 European Championships in January 2008, Joubert earned the bronze medal despite a fall on the triple axel in the short program and mistakes in the long program. In March 2008, he competed at the 2008 World Championships, where he was sixth after the short program but rallied to win the silver medal behind Canadian Jeffrey Buttle.

2008–2009 season

thumb|right|180px|Joubert at the [[2008 Trophée Eric Bompard.]]

In the 2008–09 ISU Grand Prix season, Joubert finished 4th at the Trophée Eric Bompard, then won the Cup of Russia and qualified for the Grand Prix Final. He withdrew from the Final before the long program due to a back injury, and withdrew from the 2009 French Championships prior to the event. He replaced his first long program with a new one, the first time he had made such a change in the middle of a season. and finished second in the long program, with a total score high enough to win his third European title. At the 2009 World Championships, he led after the short program, but had problems on some of his jumps in the long program and finished third overall. He then made a coaching change prior to the season ending event,

At the end of the season, Joubert discussed his decision to use the older Matrix program: "I knew that this wasn't a program to win or to achieve great results but it is a program I feel comfortable with and I needed it in order to take off next season."

On 14 October Joubert was removed from the entry list for Skate America. Some reports indicated that this was a sanction for his withdrawal from the Masters competition, although the French ice skating federation claims that Joubert was withdrawn from the event due to illness. Joubert later withdrew from the Rostelecom Cup due to a back injury. He returned to competition at the 2013 NRW Trophy, where he finished second. At the 2014 French Nationals, Joubert finished second in the short program and first in the long program, winning silver overall. Joubert lived at the Institute of Physical Education (INSEP) and said that he might be able to return to the Poitiers rink at the end of June 2013.

In an April 2012 interview, Joubert said that he prefers to practice programs in parts: "I like to train the programs in pieces over and over to know in order to really know them by heart. [...] Later, you have to combine both – skating a lot of pieces and skating the programs as a whole. Doing run-throughs all the time is something that I don't like and don't feel comfortable with." He also won the special prize of French Senate Trophy for Sports 2007.

Joubert has sponsored an association for children with Williams syndrome, and others. He has also taken part in many local events of Poitiers city and Poitou-Charentes region.

Joubert has toured primarily with the French show Stars Sur Glace (Stars on Ice) during the off-season in France, but has also performed in other countries, including Monaco, Italy, the United States, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

Joubert has made many guest appearance on TV, including France 2's television gala Tenue de Soiree, figure skating world champion special (2 February 2008), Tous ensemble (the French version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 12 February 2011) on TF1, the popular adventure game show Fort Boyard on France 2 in 2004, 2008 and 2012. He took on a starring role in the mini-series Brisons la Glace in 2012.

Joubert has appeared in advertisements as a spokesperson for the French Olympic committee, his home city of Poitiers, and sponsor Damart, Risport Skate. His other former and current sponsors are the Eric Bompard company, MK, LPG Systems, Rossignol.

In January 2014, he supported the socialist Alain Claeys in the Poitiers mayoral election.

Programs

thumb|right|Joubert performs his Madeleine exhibition at the [[2008 Trophée Eric Bompard gala]]

Post-2014

{| class=wikitable style="width:60%;"

! Season

! Exhibition

! 2016–17

Sarabande Suite <small>by Globus</small>

! 2015–16 <br />