Pierre Brunet was a figure skater

Figure skating

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

 who competed for France in both singles

Single skating

Single skating is a discipline of figure skating, wherein a single person skates alone. Men's singles and ladies' singles are both Olympic disciplines and are both governed by the International Skating Union. The other Olympic figure skating events are pair skating and ice dancing...

 and pairs

Pair skating

Pair skating is a figure skating discipline. International Skating Union regulations describe pair teams as consisting of "one lady and one man." The sport is distinguished from ice dancing and single skating by elements unique to pair skating, including overhead lifts, twist lifts, death spirals,...

.

Biography

Brunet was born in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. He and his partner Andrée Joly were the French national champions

French Figure Skating Championships

The French Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of France. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters compete at the senior level...

 from 1924 until 1935, and won three Olympic medals. They refused to defend their title at the 1936 Winter Olympics

1936 Winter Olympics

The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. Germany also hosted the Summer Olympics the same year in Berlin...

, however, in protest over Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The pair won four World Championships, competing in alternate years.

As a single skater, Brunet won ten national titles. He placed 8th (last) as a single skater at the 1924 Winter Olympics

1924 Winter Olympics

The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France...

 and 7th at the 1928 Winter Olympics

1928 Winter Olympics

The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated February 11–19, 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The 1928 Games were the first true Winter Olympics held on its own as they were not in conjunction with a Summer Olympics...

.

Brunet and Joly were married in 1929. They had a son, Jean-Pierre

Jean Pierre Brunet

Jean-Pierre Brunet was a French-American figure skater. Born in France, he was the son of Olympic champion pair skaters Pierre Brunet and Andrée Joly Brunet. Jean-Pierre also competed in pairs with Donna J. Pospisil, and the pair won the title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships twice...

, who went on to compete for the United States.

In 1936, Brunet and Joly turned professional. They emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1940 and became coaches. Brunet's students included Olympic gold-medal winning skaters Carol Heiss

Carol Heiss

Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins is an American figure skater. She is the 1960 Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, 1956 Olympic silver medalist and five-time World Champion .-Biography:...

 and Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton (figure skater)

Scott Scovell Hamilton is an American figure skater and Olympic gold medalist. He won four consecutive U.S. championships , four consecutive World Championships and a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics....

 in addition to World Champion Donald Jackson

Donald Jackson

Donald George Jackson, CM is a retired Canadian figure skater. He captured four Canadian titles and a bronze medal at the 1960 Winter Olympics...

.

Pierre Brunet died in Boyne City, Michigan

Boyne City, Michigan

Boyne City is a city in Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,503 at the 2000 census.Boyne City is at the southeast end of the east arm of Lake Charlevoix, where the Boyne River enters the lake...

. He was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame

World Figure Skating Hall of Fame

The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame serves as a repository for the sport of figure skating. The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame is where the greatest names in the history of the sport are honored...

 in 1976.

Results

Mens singles

Event	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931
Winter Olympic Games Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...	8th				7th
World Championships World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...								9th
French Championships French Figure Skating Championships The French Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of France. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters compete at the senior level...	1st	1st		1st	1st	1st	1st	1st

Pairs (with Andrée Joly)

Event	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935
Winter Olympic Games Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...	3rd				1st				1st
World Championships World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...		2nd	1st		1st		1st		1st
European Championships European Figure Skating Championships The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...									1st
French Championships French Figure Skating Championships The French Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of France. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters compete at the senior level...	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st		1st

External links

• Pairs on Ice: Andrée Joly & Pierre Brunet