Ice and love: the drama of the world famous pair of figure skaters Sergei Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Sergey Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva were not only a talented and beautiful couple who won the Olympic Games. Charm and sincerity love in life and dance - conquered the whole world. No one could have imagined how fleeting happiness is.

The lives of Catherine and Sergei were intertwined in early childhood. They lived next door, went to the same school. But they met only in a pair, which they formed because young athletes did not show results in individual skating. Katya is four years younger than Sergei. She was only 10 when they started training together. The skater recalled that Sergei treated her very carefully. And her mother clarified: the work did not go well at first. Sergei saw himself as a loner and was lazy. The coach put the question harshly, up to and including exclusion. Little Katyusha did not let the couple fall apart. She called Sergei, made appointments, and things went well.

It soon became clear how promising this duet was. In 1985, the couple are world junior champions. Further - a consistent rise: world champions, silver at the European Championships, and, finally, in 1988 - Olympic champions. The dance to the "Mendelssohn's March", brilliantly performed at the games and gone down in history, is a sign of fate, an omen of a future wedding, which will take place in 1991. Katya said that one of the happiest moments was New Year's Eve on December 31, 1989, when Sergei first confessed his feelings. Sergey was late for the wedding itself, came with a bandaged hand (due to a serious shoulder injury) and, moreover, forgot his passport, but the registry office staff turned a blind eye to this. The happy event took place.

There was no honeymoon. By that time, the couple had become a professional and joined the troupe of Tatiana Tarasova's theater. In the difficult nineties, the theater provided an opportunity to earn money. A year later, a daughter was born - Daria. They continued to perform in international projects and tournaments. In the USA and Canada, as a sign of special love, they were called by the first letters of the names of G & G, like movie stars. In 1994, in Norway, Ekaterina and Sergei again became Olympic champions. It seemed that all the peaks submitted to them. And now, finally, the time has come to reap the fruits of long-term patient labor.

Frequent injuries have taught the athlete to endure pain, not attach importance or complain. At a training session in the American city of Lake Placida on November 20, 1995, Sergei suddenly fell on the ice. The ambulance arrived in 4 minutes. It was not possible to save the athlete: it was the second heart attack. He was only 28 years old, the widowed Catherine - 24 years old. Katya said that none of the skaters could "present" a partner like that on the ice and beyond, she recalled Sergei's modesty, curiosity, as he did not like to talk a lot. She dreamed that someday he would build a house for them and her daughter. Did not happen.

In 1996, Ekaterina Gordeeva returned to the ice. She dedicated her first exit to her late husband. It was a program called "A Celebration of Life" to the musical composition of Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony. At the end of the program, Dasha's four-year-old daughter ran out onto the ice to calm her crying mother.

Sports couples stand the test of time and rigors. They are united by purposeful work, common achievements and, of course, love. For example, Olympic champions Lyudmila Belousova, 79, and Oleg Prototopov, 83 carried their affection throughout their lives and even went out on the ice again at a respectable age.