December 19, 2003
From NBC’s Today show:

TODAY SHOW

transcripted by Susan B.

Matt Lauer: And this morning on Today at the Rink, Kat-eeda, Kat-eeva, excuse me, Gordee-, EKATERINA GORDEEVA, all confused here (embarrassed grin). She is a four-time World Champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist and she’s here with a brand new NBC skating special, and she’s also here with someone very special. This is her daughter. (To Daria) How are you?

Daria: I’m good, I’m good.

Matt: Daria, how old are you?

Daria: I’m eleven.

Matt: Eleven years old. Your mom skated over here a second ago when you and I were talking and her face just LIT UP. She is so proud of you. Are you skating a lot?

Daria: Yeah, I skate every day, I practice every day.

Matt (to Katia): How is she?

Katia: Uh, she is… doing better. She is doing better. She started when she was eight, so it’s hard for her, but she loves it. She enjoy it.

Matt: Did you push her at all, or did she come to you and say, “Mom, I really want to try this skating thing”?

Katia: No, I –, she started when she was very little, but then she stopped, so I didn’t push her. But now she wants to do it again, so…

Matt: (to Daria) And do you want to take this further? I mean, do you plan on making a career of skating?

Daria: Yeah, I do. Yeah. We’ll see, we’ll see.

Katia (off camera): We’ll see.

Matt: You like it that much.

Daria: Yeah, I do.

Matt: That’s great. (To Katia) You have another daughter.

Katia: Yes.

Matt: A two-and-a-half-year old?

Katia: Liza, yes, Elizaveta, she’s two-and-a-half —

Matt: And she’s not in the terrible two’s?

Katia: She’s very good. She’s very… she’s bring me a lot of joy.

Matt: Ah that’s great. Tell me about your skating special on NBC. Who’s part of it?

Katia: Uh… There will be… It’s a Capitol One Holiday Celebration on Ice special, it’s gonna be air on December Christmas Day between 4 and 6, and there’s a lot of skaters, Brian Orser, um, Rosalyn Sumners gonna be skating there, um, uh, Alexei Yagudin, uh, Jenni Meno, Todd Sand, a lot of skaters.

Matt: And you have music from Lee Ann Womack?

Katia: Yes, she was singing there. It was very special.

Matt: And then you’re off on tour as well. How do you cram it all in?

Katia: Well, it’s — I don’t have much work (laughing). It’s– it’s– it’s all fun. Most of my work is home with kids (smiling and nodding towards Daria) and uh, it’s just for enjoyment, my skating…

Matt: Ah, of course. Family is most important. Daria, what do you say you and I take off? Here, you want to grab your mom’s jacket? (Katia takes off her gloves and hands them to Daria).

Daria: All right.

Matt: And the gloves? (Katia is wearing a Smucker’s Stars on Ice pullover fleece with a half zipper down the front, so she unzips it and starts pulling it over her head). And we’ll get you ready.

Katia: (Says something that’s muffled by the fleece.)

Matt: We gotta find an easier jacket next time, Ekaterina. All right?

Katia: Yes. (Hands it to Daria, then grins and points to the logo on the fleece and says): Smucker’s.

Matt: Here we go.

Daria: (Says something to Katia in Russian that sounds like OOH SEM BUCKA to me; it’s probably something entirely different, LOL.)

Matt: Come on (to Daria, and they run off, so the carpet they were standing on can be pulled off the ice).

Katia skates to part of “I Hope You Dance.”

At the end, Matt says, “Ekaterina Gordeeva. Ekaterina, happy holidays to you and your family” while she’s taking her bows. End of segment.