December 3, 2004
From NBC’s Today show:

TODAY SHOW

transcripted by Susan B.

HOST: And this morning on Today at the Rink, two-time Olympic gold medalist Ekaterina Gordeeva is here to take a spin and tell us about her upcoming special on NBC. Katia, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.

[Katia is wearing a black zip-up Smucker's SOI fleece over her costume this year, and red mittens.]

KATIA: Good morning.

HOST: You brought your daughter with you, one of your daughters, with you this morning.

KATIA: Yes, one of my daughters is here, yes, with her friend. [Camera shows Daria at the barrier with her friend.]

HOST: How old is she? She’s Daria, right?

KATIA: She’s twelve. Daria.

HOST: And then you’ve got a three-year-old at home.

KATIA: Three-years-old at home, yeah, with her father.

HOST: So you’re dealing with the ‘tween years right now, right, the almost teenager year?

KATIA: Yes, yes. It’s nice. They good.

HOST: Yeah. Now tell me about the NBC special you’re going to be a part of.

KATIA: This is special, is Katarina Witt & Friends, which gonna air on NBC, I think January 2nd, this show presented by Hyundai, and there’s a lot of good skaters, Yuka Sato, Steven Cousins, obviously Katarina Witt is gonna skate there, so it’s gonna be fun.

HOST: And we look forward to it. We’re gonna let you take the ice, and I want to set up the introduction here because you’re gonna be actually performing, uh – with a live, uh –

KATIA: Singer.

HOST: – singer, here.

KATIA: Yes.

HOST: So why don’t you get ready to take the ice and I’m gonna let folks know, as I get my papers squared, that we’re gonna introduce Hayley Westenra who’s up there on the stairs right now and her debut album titled “Pure” has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. So Katia and Hayley, take it away.

KATIA: I’m excited.

HOST: I’ll take your jacket if you like.

[Katia is wearing the black Caruso dress, the backless one with long sleeves and white/silver detail. She skates to Hayley Westenra singing "Who Painted the Moon Black?" It's only 38 degrees Fahrenheit in New York this morning, but her skating is smooth as butter. She did a couple of jumps, including a single axel, I think, some spins, a long spiral, and a spread eagle that drew big applause from the crowd. At the end, you can hear someone yelling "whoo-hoo!" and Katia is laughing and waving.]

HOST: Ekaterina Gordeeva, thanks very much. Also thanks to Hayley Westenra. We’ll be back in a moment.