Transcripts

1998 Winter Olympics - British TV profile

Note: Elena, Anton, and Tamara all speak in Russian and these quotes are from the translators.

This is the dramatic story of the fate of a young girl who was and still is a figure skater.

Anton - There was a little bed where Elena was lying. She was very thin. She looked terribly ill. It was a serious shock. It was a turning point in my life.

Elena - I noticed the doctor who had operated me near my bed. He was looking at me, walking and standing over me all the time checking something. He seemed so frightened that I thought, what's going on?

St. Petersburg, Russia. An overcast day in the summer of 1997. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze are enjoying happier times after a dramatic period in their lives. Theirs is a story of tragedy, love, and a burning desire to succeed.

It was a January morning two years ago on a training rink in Riga, capital city of Latvia, that Elena's dreams of a successful career in skating nearly ended in her death. She had competed in the Lillehammer Olympics with partner Oleg Shliakhov under the flag of Latvia. It was while skating with him that tragedy struck.

Tamara - During the training, while performing a parallel turn, the pair came close together and Oleg caught his skate in her head. They rushed to hospital where Elena had an operation to remove a small part of her brain. Because she had a fracture of the skull, dirt had gotten into the wound and the brain was damaged.

Elena spent weeks in a hospital bed unable to speak. Her recovery from such a delicate operation was initially slow. She couldn't talk and she moved sluggishly. The doctors were sure she would not skate again.

Elena - First, they told me that I couldn't skate for six months. And then they said that I must not skate at all. I couldn't believe it. But I knew that was because doctors are always overcautious. I thought that this was how it is for everyone. I thought that this was just their rules just in case there are any complications. I said, yes, yes, yes, actually.

Actually, Elena Berezhnaya had every intention of skating again. Thanks to the help of her new boyfriend, she fled from Latvia and her ex-partner on an overnight train to St. Petersburg, the cradle of Russian pairs skating. Anton Sikharulidze was to become not just the new love in her life, but her new skating partner as well.

Tamara - Of course, we took certain measures to take her condition into account. But, quite frankly, I didn't think that she would recover so quickly. She had such a great strength of will.

In January, 1997, a little over a year after the accident, the pair returned to international competition, winning a bronze medal at the European Championships. Two months later, they came close to winning a medal at the World Championships. The recovery was complete. Elena and Anton now hope to embrace the fine traditions of Russian pairs skating exemplified by a strong bond on the ice.

Tamara - Unison was always the strongest side to Soviet and Russian pairs skating. We are simply continuing the tradition. And this is a distinguishing trait which is the epitome of our pairs compared to those from other countries. Why give up what we do well?

Tamara has already coached two pairs to Olympic gold medals. She is now working hard with her choreographer to produce another championship-winning routine.

This talented couple hopes that their strong bond will prove to be a winning combination when the world's finest skaters arrive in Nagano. The dreams of all Olympic hopefuls deserve a happy ending. Perhaps the bravery of St. Petersburg's latest skating talents makes them a particularly worth-while cause.