Transcripts

2001 Cup of Russia - Lifetime profile

Narrated by Kathleen Murphy
Elena's words are in bold print

In a remote village of the Soviet Union in 1977, Elena Berezhnaya was born into an uninviting existence. Abandoned by her father at age six, Elena's mother supported Elena and her two brothers as best she could with love and her meager salary. Life on the Soviet frontier was hard for little Elena. Figure skating gave her hope and happiness. When she was 12 years old and with her mother's hesitant blessing, Elena travelled to Moscow to train with the Soviet Union's greatest skaters. There, she lived in a state-run boarding house for athletes.

There was all, like, big guys. All, like, boxers and was so ugly (laughs). I was so scared and I was just only one girl in the whole hotel.

Elena blossomed as a skater and found a handsome young partner whom she hoped would bring her success.

He was strong partner and he skated a long time in pairs and he do everything. And I was like, yeah, alright, let's do it!

At first, her partnership with Oleg Shliakhov was a pleasant one. Elena wrote home to her mother about her new and wonderful life in Moscow. They trained hard and were a good team. But to Elena, Oleg seemed in a strange way too determined to succeed. Slowly, a side of Oleg began to emerge. At first, it was just verbal abuse. Then it turned into physical violence. Elena, now only 14 and not knowing what to do, stayed with Oleg and endured the mistreatment.

We did some lift on the floor and I did something wrong and he start to get so mad, like pushing me and I was like, woah! I was shocked and he would start to apologize but I was shocked. I was so scared.

Other boys at the Red Army Skating Club saw this abuse. Reportedly, one day after practice, they trapped Oleg behind the rink and beat him. Oleg looked to escape and to take Elena with him. The Soviet Union was experiencing turmoil in the government. That and the unpleasantness at the rink caused him to flee with Elena to him hometown of Riga, Latvia. This small country was just becoming an independent nation from the Soviet Union and Oleg decided that he and Elena would skate for Latvia in the 1994 Winter Olympics.

In Riga, Elena stayed with Oleg at his parents' house. Oleg's mother was reportedly a practitioner of black magic. His father was a commercial fisherman who spent months at sea. They experienced some success by placing ninth at the 1994 Winter Olympics (note: they placed eighth), but Elena was not happy skating with Oleg. She felt scared and trapped in Latvia. Oleg did not want her to skate with another partner.

"(immitating Oleg) Ah, I will be skating with somebody else!" Like, who cares if you're skating or not! Just leave me. I want to go home. And then I started to be scared. I was like, oh, how come, 'cause you know. And so that's like always what stopped me. That scared me about that, but when I say, like, OK, let me go. I'm ready to go. I don't want to skate anymore. He was like, "(sitting up straight in a commanding voice) OK, that's enough. You have to skate." (note: this entire quote was somewhat difficult to understand and many words are probably incorrect!)

Elena did get to go home in a way. They sought out the guidance of the greatest figure skating coach in the world, Tamara Moskvina. Tamara had coached more pairs gold medalists than any other coach in history. Her unique ability to lead and coach with compassion was just what this pairs team needed. They travelled to St. Petersburg, Russia to train under her.

In St. Petersburg, I'm so glad I was in this town. I'm so glad... I feel... I'm in Russia and I'm a Russian person and I'm not in another country so I feel safe.

At first, Oleg was the perfect gentleman around Tamara.

It was a good change. He was trying to be gentle because it was Tamara, like, wow! And he did so good. Then, of course, he was like hard, tough, but he was so gentleman, so good. And Tamara was like, wow, good.

But, soon, the fascade began to crumble.

Oleg start to be again so mad to Tamara and everybody who, uh, skating in the rink and again start to be himself.

Skaters saw Elena fall in practice and Oleg skate close to her on purpose just to scare her. Tamara saw the bruises and scars on Elena's body. She tried to talk about the problem but Elena refused. Tamara, not knowing what else to do, took Oleg for a psychological evaluation. The doctors determined that he had what she described as a neurotic character flaw. She kept the news to herself but she ached with worry.

Another skater at the rink had taken notice of the young and beautiful Elena. Anton Sikharulidze, a pairs skater himself, slowly started to make friends with Elena.

I started to like Anton more and more because he made me feel so nice. He made me laugh. He made me feel good.

They would meet secretly after practice to talk. Their friendship blossomed into a very close relationship. For Elena, it was her first school girl crush.

And I feel this, kind of, I don't know, really tiny (makes a whistling sound). I don't know! (laughs) I feel it so much and I liked it! (laughs harder)

But Oleg was jealous of Anton and would leave Elena in the one-room apartment they shared.

If he go somewhere, he would lock the door because he was mad and he was like, "(imitating Oleg in a low voice) You stay at home. Don't go anywhere". I was upset because I just wanna, I was just so mad. It's just, you know, mad. Very mad.

On the ice, practice sessions continued to be unpleasant.

I don't have a very, don't remember any practice that he (wasn't) yelling. I don't remember that because he always have to be something negative.

By now, Elena was afraid for her life and told Tamara so. Oleg had gotten too desperate. He decided to move back to Riga, Latvia and take Elena with him.

I have so bad feeling and, for me, I feel like I will never come back to Russia.

But, Tamara had devised a plan for her to escape from Oleg. It was a complicated plan and the risk was high. If caught, Elena might lose not only her passport, but also her freedom. The Latvian Skating Federation held Elena's passport. They said they needed it to get visas for her to travel. But they knew she was unhappy. Without a passport, she could not travel freely. She was forced to stay with Oleg. But at international competitions, she was allowed to carry it for security reasons.

At the 1996 European Championships, Tamara's plan was to go into effect. After Elena skated with Oleg, she was supposed to sneak out of the hotel. She would then take a taxi to the airport and take a plane to St. Petersburg.

I was like, what?! (laughs) Are you sure we can do that?! Because I was so really, really scared to do something because I don't believe I can do anything to escape. But I have to do something.

The two were training in Latvia for the European Championships. While practicing dangerous side-by-side spins, Oleg's skate blade plugeoned Elena's head leaving a deep gash that penetrated into the bone of her skull. It was a life-threatening wound. She underwent emergency brain surgery in a Latvian hospital. When she woke up, Oleg was standing over her. While she could not speak, inside she was screaming. She hated him. She vowed to herself never to see her again. But Oleg wasn't the immediate problem. Her survival was.

Back in St. Petersburg, Tamara told the news of Elena's tragic accident to Anton. He was devastated. He had horrible images in his mind of a broken, shattered Elena lying helpless in a hospital bed. He desperately wanted to hold his friend in his arms and mend her broken soul. Together, he and Tamara devised another plan. For the scheme to work, Anton would travel by train to Latvia. There, he would secretly help Elena to escape.

Back in Latvia, Elena's mother had arrived to give her daughter extra care as she lay unmoving in the hospital. Then, came an emotional reunion with Anton.

I was happy. I knew he came, somebody who really, really wanted to help me. Anton was first person who really want to help me to be myself, just lead normal life. He was best friend for me in those times.

The morning she was discharged, Anton and her mother took Elena to a hotel near the train station. Anton, with the help of a friend of Tamara's living in Lavtia, had secured Elena's passport. Now, if they were lucky, she would be able to leave Latvia without Oleg finding out.

But Oleg did find out. Realizing that his Elena was now with Anton, he went wild with rage and jealousy. All he knew was that they were hiding somewhere in Riga and that they would be taking a train out. He started a desperate search for them. He knew where he would wait: at the train station. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Elena and the others waited. The plan was to take the very next train to St. Petersburg nine hours later. They hid in the hotel room knowing that Oleg was somewhere out there searching for them.

I was scared and I was scared because they don't let me leave. But, in my head, like, just go, get out from this town, out of this country, just get out of here.

Oleg was waiting at the train station. It was easy for Anton, Elena, and her mother to walk across the street and slip into the crowd of people. Desperately searching the crowd for his Elena was Oleg. As they boarded the train on track two, Oleg decided to search the two trains that were about to leave. He started on track one, the train to Moscow. Before he could get to track two and search that train, the train to St. Petersburg pulled out.

Not knowing if their plan had been successful, Anton held his fragile friend, comforting her and reassuring her that they would make it out of Latvia safely. They did, leaving Oleg behind. The trip took 12 hours. At dawn, they arrived at the St. Petersburg train station.

At first, it was very difficult for everyone, but Anton was always there for her. Tamara took her to the best doctors in St. Petersburg who said that the only way for Elena to become stronger was for her to try and skate. And so, very slowly, Elena took to the ice. Anton was extremely patient with her, spending hours and hours helping her skate again. During this time, Elena and Anton had long talks. They decided that they wanted to skate together as a pair. They went to Tamara asked her to be their coach.

I think this accident changed my life because, in my head, everybody tell me other things so I don't really have any choices and this accident, well, I can tell them what I want and nobody could stop me. Just, do whatever I want to do. Anton helped me to do that.

So, they lived happily ever after and won the Olympics? Not quite, because, for this team, nothing comes easily... (continues to show clip of fall in practice, win at Lalique, and Cup of Russia short program)