South Florida gained a couple of Olympians as reigning U.S. pairs champions Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett announced Monday they have joined the Panthers Figure Skating Club and relocated their training base to Saveology Iceplex in Coral Springs.

Denney, 17, and Barrett, 26, became the first Florida-born figure skaters to compete in the Olympics earlier this year at the Vancouver Games. They have been training at Ellenton, near Bradenton, since teaming up in 2008.

They will train with three-time U.S. pairs champion John Zimmerman and five-time Italian champ Silvia Fontana, who recently joined the coaching staff at Saveology.

"We feel this change is necessary to take our skating to the next level," Barrett said in a statement.

The addition of Barrett and Denney, as well as Denney's younger sister Haven and her pairs partner Daniel Raad, is a huge boost for the Panthers Club and its emerging junior skaters.

"It's going to motivate them and help them train that much harder because they've got these great athletes to look up to," said Nancy Mariani, skating director at Saveology.