Their Story
Page 6
After touring the United States with Champions On Ice during the Spring of 2001, Elena and Anton returned home to Russia for the summer to rest and develop new routines. Despite the success of their Chaplin portrayals, they decided to return to a more classical approach for their Olympic routines that would emphasize their line and grace. Méditation from the opera Thaïs by Jules Massenet, a piece of music that had been used by several top skaters in the past but never for a long program by a world-class pair, was selected for their long program. The theme of the program would be an eternal kiss and they would show the sculptures of Auguste Rodin coming to life.
By late summer, the team decided to continue their training in St. Petersburg for the rest of the season instead of returning to Hackensack. After performing in an exhibition at the Ice House late August, Elena and Anton planned to compete at the Goodwill Games in Australia before returning home to put final touches on their programs for the Grand Prix series. The new Meditation long program was not yet ready when the competition began the first week in September, but they used the event to debut the new short program set to music from the movie soundtrack from The Lady Caliph written by Ennio Morricone. This debut and their Chaplin long program were both nearly flawless and with their strongest competitors, Shen and Zhao, withdrawing due to injury before the competition started, Elena and Anton easily won the event.
On Sunday, September 9th, the pair skated in the Goodwill Games exhibition gala and two days later they were on a flight back to Hackensack for a short stop before returning to Russia. But for everyone in the United States and around the world, plans were changed on September 11th. Elena and Anton's flight landed in Los Angeles but they were unable to leave for several days as planes nationwide were grounded. Even when flights resumed, they were only able to book a flight to Chicago. From there, they rented a car and drove back to New Jersey and on September 17, they finally flew back to St. Petersburg.
Elena and Anton's Olympic season was supposed to begin with three Grand Prix competitions in Europe held during three consecutive weeks in November followed by the Grand Prix Final held in Canada in December. However, a sudden practice accident on October 29th put these plans into jeopardy. As they executed a star lift during an evening practice, Anton tripped and both skaters crashed to the ice.
"I don't even understand how I fell. It wasn't a difficult lift. I probably tripped," Anton explained. "But most importantly, Lena didn't get hurt. She landed on two feet. Her blade cut my arm from the wrist to the elbow, but I am lucky - only the muscle is injured." Anton immediately went to the hospital where the 12-centimeter gash required several stitches. The pair would be off the ice for over a week and the injury forced them to withdraw from their first two Grand Prix events, Sparkassen Cup and Trophée Lalique.
With only one Grand Prix competition still on their schedule, they would have also had to forgo the Grand Prix Final so the Russian Federation asked the ISU if the pair could compete at the NHK Trophy, the last of the six Grand Prix competitions. With three seeded pairs already scheduled to compete at the NHK, the ISU declined their request and Elena and Anton then opted to compete at Trophée Lalique after all.
2001 Cup of Russia
Trophée Lalique had always been a successful competition for Elena and Anton. It was there that they made their debut as a pair in 1996 and incredibly won the bronze medal. The following year, the event marked their first victory together. Their most recent appearance in Paris had been previous year when they once again won the gold medal. Lalique was good to Elena and Anton again in 2001 as they took the lead with a flawless short program less than three weeks after their accident. With the loss of valuable training time, they felt their new long program was not ready for competition yet, so they skated to Chaplin again but with new costumes and some new choreography. Despite an error on the side-by-side jumps, they won the competition.
One week later they were back in St. Petersburg for the Cup of Russia held at the new Ice Palace arena. The great precision they displayed at this event last season did not repeat itself as Elena fell twice in the short program and they found themselves in third place midway through the event. As they have so many times during their career, Elena and Anton somehow found the strength to skate a flawless performance when it mattered most. Their Chaplin long program was error free and earned another 6.0. At the press conference following the competition, Anton simply stated, "Once more I believed deeply in my partner's strength."
"Anton believed in me today and I believed in myself," Elena said. "It was difficult to believe in myself after what had happened yesterday. It was difficult to show a beautiful program. We are very glad about our performance."
With two victories in the Grand Prix series, Elena and Anton were assured a place in the Grand Prix Final. In fact, the three top pairs in the world had each won two of the six Grand Prix competitions without having to face one another. The Grand Prix Final in Kitchener, Ontario was the first time that Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, Salé and Pelletier, and Shen and Zhao competed against each other since the 2001 World Championships and each pair was undefeated since those Worlds.
Again, the Grand Prix Final format required each pair to perform three programs although unlike previous years, the final long program was not head-to-head and any team could win the title. In the short program, a flawless Salé and Pelletier took a narrow lead over a flawless Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze by a 4-3 split. Several hours later in the first free skate, both teams made small mistakes and the judges' split reversed with Elena and Anton winning by four judges to three.
The following day for the final free skate, Elena and Anton performed the Méditation long program for the first time in competition. They took to the ice immediately following a technically and artistically flawless performance by the Canadians that left the home crowd buzzing with excitement. Elena and Anton were nervous but skated very well. Their skating was gentle and romantic, seamlessly flowing from one move to the next in a routine designed with interesting connections and footwork instead of simple crossovers between elements. The spell was broken once by a fall on the throw triple salchow which dashed any hopes of the gold medal but the performance was breathtaking. The podium was a copy from the previous year with Salé and Pelletier first, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze second, and Shen and Zhao third. The next time these three top teams would compete against each other would be at the Olympic Games.
Since their strongest competitors were from countries outside of Russia and Europe, the next two competitions were expected to be relatively easy for Elena and Anton after facing the world's best in Kitchener. They went to Moscow in late December to compete at the Russian National Championships where they were the heavily-favored three-time defending champions. A solid short program easily put them in the lead, but Elena did not land either throw jump cleanly in the long program. When Tatiana Totmianina and Maksim Marinin completed their routine without any error, many spectators thought the gold was decided. Elena and Anton, however, prevailed with their superior artistry, flow, and grace and won the competition with three 6.0's for presentation.
After performing in the annual New Year's exhibition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and with just one week to go before the European Championships, the team submitted a request to withdraw from the competition. Elena wanted to rest a foot injury that had been bothering her for the past year and affected her landings on throw jumps. "I have been skating with this injury for sometime now," Elena explained. "Even last year, I had some problems with it. I want to do something to cure it in time for the Olympics." In their absence, the title was won by Totmianina and Marinin, continuing the Russian tradition of 35 European titles in the past 38 years.
For Elena and Anton, the Olympics and World Championships are all that remain in the current season. The Russian stronghold in pairs skating has remained unbroken in the past ten Olympics since the Protopopovs won the first gold medal for the Soviet Union in 1964. Elena and Anton are Russia's hope to continue this tradition. They are a unique pearl in Russia's string of champions, a versatile pair with a unique combination of power and grace, comedy and romance that set them apart. As the Russians have persevered so often in the past, Elena and Anton have beaten the odds time and time again in a story of countless triumphs mixed with so many disappointments that it would almost seem unbelievable if it was not so true. No matter the outcome of the 2002 Olympic Games, they have already proven that they are true champions.
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