Ryan O'Meara

Infobox Figure skater
title= Ryan O'Meara


caption=
country= USA
dateofbirth= birth date and age|1984|1|5
residence= Scottsdale, Arizona
height= convert|175|cm|ftin|abbr=on
weight=
formerpartner= Jamie Silverstein,
Lydia Manon,
Melissa Ralph,
Lia Nitake
formercoach= Igor Shpilband,
Marina Zueva,
Jerry Santoferrara,
Elizabeth Coates,
Genrich Sretenski
skating club= Cyoties Skating Club
retired= 2006
dance score= 155.51
dance date= 2005 Skate America
CD score= 29.98
CD date= 2006 Four Continents
OD score= 48.28
OD date= 2005 Skate America
FD score= 78.79
FD date= 2005 Skate America

Ryan O'Meara (born January 5, 1984 in Houston, Texas) is an American ice dancer. With partner Jamie Silverstein, he is a 2006 Olympian. Following his retirement from competitive skating, he began working full time as a coach and an interior designer.

Biography

O'Meara competed on the novice and junior levels with Melissa Ralph and Lia Nitake, having some success with them both. He won four straight medals at the U.S. Championships on the novice and junior levels between 1999 and 2002, two with Ralph and two with Nitake.

O'Meara competed with Lydia Manon from 2003 to 2005. With Manon, he won the bronze medal at the 2005 U.S. Championships and at the 2005 Four Continents Championships.

In 2005, his partnership ended with Manon and he teamed up with Jamie Silverstein, a former World Junior Champion with Justin Pekarek. Silverstein and O'Meara had sudden success. They were sent as a host entry to the 2005 Skate America, their first international competition together as a team, and placed 5th.

They won the bronze medal at the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which qualified them for the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2006 Four Continents Championships. They competed at the Four Continents and placed 6th.

At the Olympics, they placed 18th in the compulsory dance, 16th in the original dance, and 18th in the free dance, placing 16th overall out of 23 teams.

They chose not to compete at the 2006 World Figure Skating Championships. U.S. pewter medalists Morgan Matthews & Maxim Zavozin were sent in their place.

In the spring of 2006, Silverstein and O'Meara announced they would be taking time off from competitive skating. Their partnership ended soon after and O'Meara retired from competitive skating. O'Meara works as a coach. He owns an interior design business called "Palavela Home", which is named after the Palavela, the venue for the figure skating competition at the Olympics.

O'Meara came out of the closet as gay in 2008. [ [http://www.gay.com/content/slideshow/?coll=7836&order=1&navpath=/channels/fitness/sports/ Gay.com Sports ] ]

Competitive highlights

(with Silverstein)

* J = Junior level

(with Nitake)

* N = Novice level; J = Junior level

References

External links

* [http://www.palavelahome.com/ O'Meara's interior design company]
* [http://www.figureskatersonline.com/silverstein-omeara/ Official Silverstein/O'Meara Website]
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* [http://www.usoc.org/26_43493.htm U.S. Olympic Team bio]