Link to the video

This is her first performance, which took place one year after his death. Her husband and partner, Sergey Grinkov, the two time Olympic champion in pair skating died 15 years ago, in the fall of 1995. On this footage you can see his widow, Ekaterina Gordeeva, skating her first solo performance. For the first time in her life she is skating here alone. It took her one year before she found courage to step on the ice and share her pain with the audience. She was looking for a support and spectators did share her grief with her.

Katia: “It was a good chance for me to show my feelings on the ice, through a performance”.

This performance became Katia’s first step into a different life. Her previous life, which was abruptly cut off, had been an endless woman’s happiness.

Katia: “I was always sure of him. And now, when so many years passed, I realize how difficult it is to encounter this in life, to experience this… The feeling of confidence is what a woman would want to find in a man. There are not so many women who can say this about their men”

Their romance started on the eve of the most important sports event, the first Olympics in their lives. 1988, Kalgari, when everything coincided: the first Olympic gold medal and the first love in the lives of Gordeeva and Grinkov. It was simply impossible to hide such feelings or conceal them from other people’s eyes.

Katia: “The pleasure we were getting from each other and from skating with each other was conveyed [to other people]”.

Everything in their lives was developing very quickly, as if there were premonitions of a soon misfortune. They got married, their daughter was born already one year after the Olympic games. Then there was their second Olympics in 1994. The amazing lifts Gordeeva and Grinkov were doing took the audience’s breath away. Nobody could even guess that the obligatory elements that the skaters were doing so beautifully and effortlessly were approaching the tragic end. To all appearances, already at that time any physical exersice was probably strongly counter-indicative to Sergey’s health. However, nobody knew about it. Neither Katia and Sergey did.

An interview.
“What are your plans for the future?”
Katia: “I think that we will continue to skate, raise our daughter. We will try to bring her up now by ourselves, without [relying too much on the] help of her grandparents. There are many [interesting] things awaiting us in the future. We hope so.”
Sergey: “Yes. I think that we need to take some rest before we decide what we shall do in the future”.

However, Katia would be raising their daughter alone.

Katia: “About half a year before it happened, he suffered from the pain in his back. The pain was so strong that sometimes he could not skate. We did injections and were checking his back all the time but the pain did not go, no matter what we tried.”

Artur: “Already before it [happened], when we were competing together in Lillehammer where they were first and we were second, I noticed how [abnormally] pale he was after their program. White as a sheet. I thought that they might have been not [properly] prepared physically. A thought slipped through my mind that something could have been wrong with his health. But then I thought it could be caused by him being nervous: it often happens that a person may look very pale when he is nervous. But there definitely were signs, which probably went unnoticed in due time”.

When other people several times told Sergey Grinkov that he looked too pale, he dismissed the observation, saying that for example he had not slept properly. In fact, there could have been numerous insignificant reasons [for the occasional paleness], as nobody could even imagine that a two-time Olympic champion who was accustomed to sweating from morning till night could have some health problems. However, the life had an opinion of its own and in one and half years after their triumph in Lillehammer…

Katia: “He lied down on the ice. I was absolutely sure that something happened to his back. It was only our coach, Zoueva, who immediately realized that something went very wrong”

When Marina Zoueva rushed to Sergey, she took it in at once: [something has happened to] his heart. Sergey did not breathe. An ambulance arrived very quickly, less then in ten minutes. It took other ten minutes to bring Grinkov to intensive care. However, any efforts were already useless. The last words Ekaterina Gordeeva heard from her husband still on the ice were “I feel very bad”. A massive infarct. Doctors could not rescue him. They said that a day before he did survive another micro-infarct, which nobody noticed: neither Ekaterina, nor coachers, nor Sergey himself. His heart stopped before his skates were taken off.

Katia: ”During the first weeks I felt a shock and could not believe it. I woke up in the morning, the thought struck me again, I asked myself a question, if it was true or not”

Sergey Grinkov died at 28. Katia was left with a four-years old daughter Dasha on her hands.

Katia: “First of all – a guilt. Of course, there was my guilt. I don’t understand why but I was guilty for Daria and Sergey’s mother…”

It was very difficult for Ekaterina to live through that tragedy. Her close people were advising her not to keep the pain inside and Katia decided to write a book as a tribute to her husband. Every day throughout one year she was remembering all her life with Sergey.

Katia: “I was getting the load off my mind [when writing the book], which made me feel very tired. But later I was realizing that I needed it anyhow. I would anyway do it at some point of my life. May be not in a form of a book. May be this process would take more time then, but since it happened “artificially”… I needed it”

The feeling of responsibility was another factor, which prevented Katia from shrinking to herself or breaking down. She was responsible for her daughter before herself, Sergey’s mother and Sergey himself. Gradually, step by step Ekaterina Gordeeva returned to normal life.

Katia: “After 3, 4 or 5 years I undestood that I must move on. [I was] struggling to turn the page. But only after 10 years I realized that I was not constantly thinking of him and stopped comparing [other men] to him”

Moscow. Filming the Ice Age show. Time is healing. Katia’s story proves this fact. She was doing what she was supposed to do: raising her daughter, skating new programs. And life itself showed her the road to take. Eight years ago Katia gave birth to the second daughter. Her husband is a famous skater, an Olympic champion Ilia Kulik. They live in America and together raise their daughters, Liza Kulik and Dasha Grinkova. Daria Sergeevna Grinkova.

Today, the schedule of Ekgaterina Gordeeva is very tight and booked for many months ahead. She is still in strong demand and she is happy. She did not forget Sergey Grinkov but learnt to live without him. The former, happy life lives in Katia’s memories. Warm and tender memories.

Katia: “He [lives] in my memory or I anyway feel that somehow he is near to me all the time. This goes without saying. This will never change and I don’t want it to change”

The video was posted on youtube by gordeeva.ru (many thanks!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNptSwEJnJQ

Translations, summaries can be found in the forum (many thanks to all the contributors):

http://www.gg-corner.de/GGboard/viewtopic.php?t=4106

CBC is the Canadian TV station and “Battle of the Blades” is a TV reality show where former NHL players (ice hockey) are teamed up with female skaters to perform skating routines.

Basically, the men do know how to skate – with hockey skates – and now have to adapt to figure skating boots and blades, which isn’t that easy [g].

CBC has set up a web-site for the show at

http://www.cbc.ca/battle/

If you check out the gallery and check out the photos dated August 10, 2010 I think there’s an Ekaterina picture on one of the “balloons” in the background. It’s on the pic with the headline “Introducing…” (Kurt Browning and 3 ladies with the furthest on the right side laughing)…

Just wanted to say a quick “hello”! I’m all well, but extremely busy. Sorry for no current updates. However, I hope everyone is doing fine and that you all enjoy the news which are being shared in the Forum!

Have a great day!
Su-jan.

September 20, 2009: Bratislava
September 21, 2009: Kosice

http://www.vondrackova.net/index-cz.php

Discuss this topic in the forum: http://www.gg-corner.de/GGboard/viewtopic.php?t=3861

Update: June 27, 2009: The shows have been cancelled.

translated by NatS.

THE TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND
From January until May the Ice Show finalists not only participate in shooting of new episodes but also go on tour around cities in the home country and free of. With such an intense schedule there is no time off at all. But upon the arrival to Israel all the participants have been nicely surprised – they got a day off. Katia Gordeeva talked how the figure skaters spent the day off.

Page 102
As I have never been to Israel, I had been interested in beforehand. However, I was coming here on business trip; I hadn’t planned any excursions and walks in the city. I was planning to work.
The airplane took off at midnight; we got in the hotel in Tel-Aviv only at 6 a.m. Everybody was tired and wanted to sleep. That’s why I hadn’t any thought how I was going to spend my day off. The single thing I remember I had on that day – the smell of the sea. I felt it right upon disembarking from the airplane and in contrast with Moscow’s air, the freshness literally intoxicated me. The next morning, when I opened the window, I saw the sea. It was a big surprise! Under the bright rays of sun the sea was very beautiful and of the deep emerald colour. From the window I could see the coastline and breaking waves. I wanted immediately to go for a walk along the coastline. When I went downstairs in the hall, all the guys were there and it was time to go for a brunch. The restaurant was located near the sea. We wanted eating outside but because of the wind we decided to stay inside. The food and the service were just perfect. When we sit down, the pitta bread with a sauce was served. We aren’t used to eat the bread like that but it’s traditional Arab cuisine. Israeli cuisine has large elements of Arab cuisine. As for people, on the contrary, they look like European. Honestly, I was under the impression that everybody was Russian. In the day, we were going shopping and everywhere I got the same: when I started speaking English to a vendor and then asked someone of our group in Russian… “May I help you?” – I heard the vendor asking me in Russian at once and we continued speaking Russian. By and large, the people were very friendly and all over, the environment was calm and comfortable.

Page 102
In the afternoon, we went to the sea and looked at waves breaking. On the spot, on the embankment, we drunk a cup of coffee prepared on the Arabic recipe and after that, everyone went in different directions. The most of our group were with children, someone had come here one day earlier in order to have one day more for a rest. Tania Navka went to the Dead Sea, someone else – to Jerusalem, and the Director Katia Tsanava and I went walking in the city. And everywhere we went, we met our colleagues – in shops, in cafés, around the hotel. .. Here is Alena Babenko, there is Roma Kostomarov, and here are two Maksims –Marinin and Staviysky… It seemed that we fulfilled the entire town! And everything seemed to be spiritual and clear, like the Holy Land didn’t let us be others.
Nobody had expected such a wonderful gift – the whole day off in the Tour’s schedule. We all were after Moscow as happy as a pig in muck and taking this advantage we walked, got a rest and relaxed. In the night those who visited Jerusalem were sharing their emotions with us and Katia and I, we decided to go there the next day.
The day of our show, we hadn’t enough time for the sightseeing tour. In spite of this we went, walked two and half – or three hours…. I was afraid of getting too tired to perform or of being inspired too much by Jerusalem and forgetting about everything, and of being late to the show. As the last thought didn’t let me in peace, we come back early and missed a lot to see.

Page 103
The biggest impression was the view of Jerusalem from the top point of hill. The town is like the white brick temple surrounded by the wall – like a book illustration. And later when we went down the hill and walked through the central gate, we found ourselves in the book.
…..

Page 104
The Wall of Crying, the Holiest Place to the Jewish people, since hundred years ago has been the Symbol of Faith and Hope for many generations. The people from all countries around the world come here to pray and leave a wish on a small piece of paper. Before the trip Ira Slutskaja’s mom had explained me how to do it: write a wish on the paper, fold the paper and place it between bricks on the Wall. The wish one day will come true. I said that to Katia Tsanava and her daughter Liza and we decided to write before we come to the Wall.
When I took a small piece of paper and wrote down my wish, I saw how Liza prepared a big sheet of paper and began to write in uppercase letters. I was teasing: “This paper will be too big for a small space between bricks “. She became confused: “I just wanted everybody to understand it…” Of course, nobody will read it; we address a wish to God. That’s why we shouldn’t tell anyone about the wish, otherwise it won’t come true. Even when the papers fall on the earth, the keeper collects them and without reading earths them on the spot.
…

Page 105: the two last paragraphs
I can’t say that I’m very religious – I don’t go Church or commit myself to the Lenten. I think the faith isn’t in observing the fasts and feasts of the church but it is inside of each of us. It is easier to live when you believe in something. I, for example, in every difficult situation go to church and pray not to help me but to direct me the way how I can help myself. Even in those circumstances it isn’t necessary to go to church. Sometime I feel just exhausted for skating while being in tour I have to skate. What I do, I pray in the Spirit to help me and I get the help!
If you want something very much, it comes true absolutely! When I was competing, I always wished myself to win. That wish made me work hardly and I won. On the other side, I believe in miracles as well. One New Year’s night I made a wish to win at the Olympic Games and I become the Champion. Is it a miracle? May be. Or I wished it very much. Wishes coming from the heart tend to come true.

February 16, 2009 – Cherepovets
February 17, 2009 – Yaroslavl’
February 19, 2009 – Balashikha
February 20, 2009 – Podolskiy
February 21, 2009 – Mytishchi
February 22, 2009 – Nizhniy Novgorod
March 14, 2009 – Tyumen
March 15, 2009 – Perm
March 28, 2009 – Tel Aviv
March 30, 2009 – Minsk
April 5, 2009 – Kolomna
April 18, 2009 – Kazan
April 29, 2009 – Rostov
May 1, 2009 – Mannheim
May 2, 2009 – Hamburg
May 3, 2009 – Dusseldorf