Their Story
Page 7
Elena and Anton arrived in Utah during the first week in February to train for the Olympics with the Russian team just north of Salt Lake City in Logan. They would be facing enormous pressure at this competition as the heirs-apparent to the longest domination by a single nation in Olympic history. A Soviet or Russian pair had won every Olympic gold medal since 1964 and now they were the strongest hope to continue the legacy. "Right now there is big pressure on Elena and Anton to keep up the tradition," explained Oleg Vassiliev, Olympic pairs gold medallist in 1984 and also a former pupil of Tamara Moskvina.
Their strongest opposition was expected to come from Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada, who were fighting a national legacy of a different kind. Their skating-crazed nation that had only managed to win two Olympic golds in any skating discipline before 2002 and resulted in many disappointing silver medals and Canadians hoped Jamie and David could finally bring home the country's third Olympic gold medal in figure skating.
Since Elena and Anton's last competition in December at the Russian Nationals, coach Tamara Moskvina changed the concept of the long program so it would gain higher presentation marks. The routine of "crying romance" was now one of "passionate love" and striking new costumes were also made to fit the theme from the Thais opera. Elena, representing the courtesan Thaïs, wore a red dress with over 400 crystals while Anton's costume provided a contrast with gray and black, depicting the monk Athanael. Percussive effects were also added to the music to add drama.
In an effort to keep their minds off the upcoming competition and have some fun, Elena and Anton went snowmobiling on Monday, February 4, five days before the short program, but Elena's face became wind-burned. Her skin was only damaged more when she visited a tanning salon and burned her arms and torso. After a sleepless night she was unable to practice the following day. For a pair that had encountered so many difficult times during their career, it was apparent that this competition would be no exception. On Thursday at the draw ceremony, the pair chose third position out of the 20 pairs competing. Usually, such an early position skating before any of the other medal contenders, is a disadvantage because the judges must save their highest marks for the skaters yet to perform. The position didn't seem to phase Anton who simply replied, "It doesn't matter," when asked about the draw position.
"The Lady Caliph"
Associated Press photo
Elena and Anton stepped onto the ice at the Olympic Ice Center early in the evening on Saturday, February 9th. They had practiced at the competition venue in Salt Lake City for the first time just a day before and, like most Russian pairs skaters in past Olympics, opted not to walk in the Opening Ceremony the previous night since they competed less than 24 hours later. Any pressure that they may have been feeling was certainly not apparent in their short program performance. Wearing cream and ivory-colored costumes and skating to the haunting music from The Lady Caliph, they effortlessly weaved the required technical elements together into a flawless performance. Noticeably relieved and happy with their program, they sat in the kiss-and-cry as their marks of 5.7 and 5.8 with a single 5.9 were read. They were placed first and as each remaining pair skated, trying to knock them off that top spot, all failed and Elena and Anton were the winners of the short program. Seven of the nine judges placed them first with the remaining two, Canadian judge Benoit Lavoie and German judge Sissy Krick (interestingly, the same judge who had given Elena and Anton a perfect 6.0 three months earlier at Cup of Russia), giving their top marks to Salé and Pelletier, who had skated without error until falling on their ending pose.
Two days later was the night of the free skate and the medals would be decided. In the final group, Elena and Anton would skate second just before Salé and Pelletier and the Chinese, Shen and Zhao, who were third-best in the short program. These three pairs had dominated their sport for the past two seasons and would no doubt win the three medals and the color awarded to each team would be determined on this night.
As the pairs concluded the final warm-up, Elena and Anton gathered speed to try one last throw jump just as Jamie Salé was preparing a triple toe loop. As Jamie turned at center ice to execute the jump, she slammed into Anton's side and was knocked to the ground as Anton spun away. Elena avoided direct contact in the collision and Anton slowly skated over to Jamie, attempting to help her to her feet. David came to assist his partner and nearly as quickly as the collision occurred, all four skaters left the ice, none of them seriously hurt.
After the performance of one pair, Elena and Anton appeared on the ice again after collecting their emotions backstage following the frightening collision. As their names were announced, they caught each other's eyes in their usual pre-skate ritual. Anton held out his hand for Elena, she gently placed her hand in his, and after a quick squeeze of encouragement, they glided to center ice.
The gentle violin strains of Jules Massenet's Méditation soon echoed throughout the arena and Elena and Anton quickly set the gentle, subtly dramatic mood of the program with a series of mirrored turns. They gradually picked up speed for the opening triple toe loops and landed them perfectly. A few seconds later, they launched into the double axels. Anton turned out on the landing but immediately regained unison with Elena for the double toe loops. Knowing they could not afford another error, the remaining elements of the program were executed cleanly but somewhat tentatively. The triple twist, both throws, lifts, and spins were all completed without error and were seamlessly connected with intricate steps, turns, and spirals. One criticism of their previous Chaplin long program had been the lengthy pause and slow footwork in the middle of the routine, but this new Meditation program was skated continuously from beginning to end with barely any chance for the skaters to catch their breaths, save for a very brief pause before they began the side-by-side spins. The footwork in this routine was executed with full speed down the length of the ice with counter turns, a dance lift, and continuous movement and changes of edges.
As the cymbals crashed at the end of the program, Elena dramatically dropped herself back into Anton's arms for the final pose. Anton gently wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head before they took their bows before a partial standing ovation from the crowd. Elena and Anton waited nervously for their marks in the kiss-and-cry area and soon a row of 5.7's and 5.8's for technical merit were flashed on the scoreboard. Those were then replaced by a row of 5.9's with two 5.8's (again from the Canadian and German judges) for presentation. The scores left some room for the remaining two pairs and they would have to wait for the final two pairs to complete their routines to see if their performance was golden.
Salé and Pelletier skated next and completed their Love Story routine without a significant flaw. David kissed the ice when their performance concluded and they sat in the kiss-and-cry waiting for the scores that they thought would give them the gold. Their technical marks of 5.8 and 5.9 were understandably higher than those given to Elena and Anton, but when marks in the same range appeared for presentation, it was clear that the Canadians would remain in second place. Again, only one judge separated the two pairs with five judges placing Elena and Anton first and four favoring Jamie and David.
Later in the evening, Elena and Anton were presented to the audience for the first time as Olympic gold medallists. Anton appeared to be anxious about the crowd's response as the partisan crowd had saved their loudest cheers during the competition for Salé and Pelletier. He put his hand over his mouth in disbelief as they skated to center ice to take their bows as the crowd cheered wildly for them. They stepped onto the top step of the podium after congratulating bronze medallists Shen and Zhao and the silver medal winners Salé and Pelletier. For the first time since 1988, the old Soviet anthem was played in the Olympic figure skating venue for a smiling Elena and tearful Anton. After coming so close to winning the gold four years earlier and surviving a long and rough road since then, Elena and Anton were the Olympic Champions.
The North American media, however, was not happy about the flawed Russian pair defeating the flawless Canadians. Anton's small mistake on the double axel was replayed countless times on television broadcasts. "The media say I stole an Olympic medal," Anton later told the Associated Press. "I feel we skated good enough to be Olympic champions and it is the judges who think we skated best. It's not right. TV should show both sides."
Following judges' meeting the morning after the final skate, those nay-sayers seemed to find vindication for their claims when it was announced that Marie Reine le Gougne, the French judge who gave her top marks to Elena and Anton, emotionally broke down at the meeting claiming she was under immense pressure from her federation. Other officials claimed she had told them that she had been part of a deal to place the Russian pair first in return for a high placement for the French ice dance team.
While their win was unquestioned back home in Russia and they even received congratulations from President Vladimir Putin, support for Elena and Anton was hard to find in North America. The situation became the lead news story across North America and, after a difficult week and being treated as medal thieves, Elena and Anton were interviewed on Larry King Live on Thursday. That evening, ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta was interviewed on NBC and stated that changing the results of the event would be "extremely difficult."
Yet, twelve hours later on Friday morning, Cinquanta and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge held a press conference and announced that the marks of le Gougne would be nullified and Salé and Pelletier would also be awarded a gold medal. Elena and Anton gave many interviews on this day, rejecting that they were unworthy champions and insisting that the Canadians were great skaters and there was no animosity between the two pairs. They graciously accepted the news of the second gold medal, hoping that this would mark the end to the controversy.
The two golden pairs met on Sunday, February 17 at the Olympic Ice Center where the controversy began less than one week earlier for a special pairs medal ceremony. Wearing their team jackets, the four walked to the podium side-by-side, Elena and Jamie followed closely behind by Anton and David. Already wearing their gold medals, Elena and Anton clapped as identical ribboned gold discs were awarded to Jamie and David. The four received bouquets of yellow roses and the rousing crowd hushed as the Russian national anthem again filled the arena. Elena and Anton grinned cheek to cheek as they sung to the anthem and Anton leaned down to sing in Elena's ear. After the playing of O Canada, the four posed for photos in front of the press.
At the end of the week, Elena and Anton appeared at the Ice Center once again to skate in the gala of champions. While they initially expressed some apprehension about appearing before a crowd in Salt Lake City again, any fears dissolved when the crowd cheered loudly and enthusiastically for them. Their entertaining performance of Charlie Chaplin's The Kid was flawless and Anton tightly hugged Elena at the conclusion as the crowd cheered again. After performing a double death spiral with their fellow pairs gold medallists in the gala finale, Russia's newest golden pair waved good-bye to the Salt Lake crowd for the last time.
Elena and Anton left the United States that weekend before the Closing Ceremony, hoping to have a head-start preparing for the following month's World Championships. However, after many receptions and parties, they did not have enough time to train for the Worlds and decided to skip the competition. Elena and Anton are now focusing on entertaining and performing in shows. "I love to perform and to skate," Anton said after the 2001 World Championships. "We are a pair for professional skating. We can do great and enjoyable programs with interesting elements and lifts for the audience."
While they do not plan on losing their Olympic eligibility yet and may compete in the 2006 Torino Games, Elena and Anton do not plan on competing in ISU competitions for two years. They began their new career as performers shortly after the Salt Lake Olympics by touring Ontario with Skate the Nation and they signed a multi-year contract with the American Stars On Ice tour beginning with the 2002/03 season. Already, they have put the Olympic controversy behind them and look to the future. Upon arriving in Canada, Anton said, "Now we look forward. Everything's history."
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