The show was taped on December 28, 2007 and aired on January 3, 2008.

Many thanks to OlyaS. for the transcript and translation into English:

HOST – Good evening. You are so fragile!

KATIA – All skaters are fragile!

Every time I come to Russia – we used to come at least once a year, and now even more often – I feel wonderful, I feel like coming home. Last year, we skated at the Red Square rink with our daughter, and it was great. It’s a great idea to have a rink there.

My father was a dancer, so I had an option to become a ballerina, but I chose figure skating. Of course, it was scary to skate with a young, inexperienced skater at first.

ZAHAROV – I trained them for 1-2 years after I put them in a pair. Sergei was not very disciplined – what do you expect at 16 years? – but Katia was always an excellent student. CSKA was a tough club, it’s the Army, and Zhuk was a strict coach.

KATIA – When we won our first senior world championship, we realized that we became accomplished skaters. Juniors don’t count… and then of course, when you win the Olympics you realize that you have done something great.

When Sergei died, the media attention was so intense, it was hard. I did not understand what was going on, my agents guided me through the process, but it was hard and at one moment it became horrible. I had a lot of support though – my parents, my wonderful mom and dad who were always near me, and lots of friends. I had great support.

I didn’t realize right away what happened at that training session [when Sergei died]. I knew that it was something horrible, but then the doctors started saying… He had complained about his back, like all athletes, because of all the lifts, but nothing major.

FATHER NIKOLAI: Katia visited me several times, we talked… she asked me how to live her life, so we decided that together. I prayed and realized that she needed a man, that she would be unhappy alone. Sergei would have blessed it, he loved her very much. And after several years she decided to re-marry. I was glad, because when she was alone she did not have the same spark in her eyes.

KATIA – It’s not like one day I decided to find someone new. My life continued, I was skating… it was nice to be invited to skate as a singles skater. My parents supported me, and my friends, Dashka was growing up… so it just happened naturally. It was not on purpose.

I don’t remember Ilya writing poetry to me!

ILYA – I could not write poetry that would be good enough to devote to Katia so no, I did not. The first couple of years we were together, the attention was very intense. Katia was still getting a lot of attention from the press… also because of her book. All the questions, all the attention, we could not just walk down the street. It was so draining for her, I felt sorry for her… she could never relax. So the first couple of years we ha to hide, we absolutely did not publicize our marriage.

Winning her was a laborious process, but we had a lot of time when we were on a tour! 

KATIA – But why don’t you ask me if it was hard for me to win him over?

ILYA – So, it was a mutually difficult process then?

HOST – So did YOU write poetry to him?

KATIA – Mmmm… there was a time…

ILYA – It was a long tour, same thing every day… training, show, training, show… nothing else to do… so I was wondering what to do that could attract her attention. So I saw that her jumps weren’t great and offered to help. She did not like that very much, but she was very patient.

KATIA – I thought you were going to talk about a different jump! Ever since I was a young girl, I dreamed of jumping with a parachute. So when he mentioned it, I was so excited that my dream would finally come true! And it did come true. He organized everything, and it was great… It was scary of course, but not so scary if you do it together.

KATIA/ILYA – Our daughter is skating skate. It’s too early to know whether Liza will be a pairs or singles skater. Who knows at 6.5 years? The older daughter, Dasha is now in 8th grade, and she no longer skates. She liked it but not enough to go into it seriously. She achieved a lot though, could jump doubles… We trained her.

KATIA – It’s hard to coach your children. I go to training sessions with Liza, and it feels wonderful, but I can’t coach her. She treats me as a parent, not as a coach, so she wants to talk to me, and she tells me she doesn’t want to do something, or asks me to warm up her hands… and that’s not what a coach does.

CHERKIZOV: Of course Americans only think about themselves but we should appreciate their support to Katia after Sergei’s death. So I would not agree that it was all for show. These skaters have so many devoted fans who follow them around, give them presents, go as far as Japan and to other competitions… and it’s sincere. So you can’t say that it was all for show.

When I prepared for the show, I was trying to put in words what this pair was like. I think Katia was like a precious stone, like emerald – which is better than a diamond – a gemstone that everyone admires, and Sergei was a wonderful setting. They were loved and famous. The camera does not do the movement justice, but when you are at a rink you can see how they fly, they covered the rink in four steps… CSKA pairs fly! And seeing them together now… Ilyuha is of course more organized than Grinya, and the fact that these two got together is just great. They are “ours”, they are Russian! She would have never picked an American!

ZAHAROV – Sergei was not so responsible, but Katia was always the good girl. Sergei was a wonderful single skater, he had great long programs… so we put them together. Pair skating is hard, especially with Zhuk. He was strict. For a 7 am training session you must come at 6.20 for warm-up!

There are four different types of parents – those who do not interfere, and that was the Gordeevs. Only sometimes Elena, Katia’s mom, would come and peak through the curtains. I would see her and ask her, “Do I come to your work and watch you?” Another type was parents who wanted to coach instead of the coach. That was the Kuliks. They would tell you what to do, what not to do, whether to leave the coach…

ILYA – Well, they would not coach, but they would tell me to leave a coach.

VLADIMIR DEMIDOV (Sergei’s classmate, a hockey player) – Hockey players looked down on figure skaters because hockey was supposed to be the main sport, a sport for men. But Sergei never let people joke at him, he always stood his ground. We joked a little when he started skating with Katia, but then we saw how much he cared about her when she fell and he would encourage her.

[He then tells this story about how they got drunk in school once and Sergei refused to tell the teachers who got the beer.] He was not very serious sometimes…

KATIA – Well, he treated his training sessions seriously… almost always. 

TATIANA VOROBJEVA (their teacher) – I was Katia’s teacher, and Ilya’s as well. What can I say about Katia… she was always the leader… She would take charge of the class during contests… everyone followed her. I still have a picture of her with these big bows on her head. As for Ilya, his opinion was always important, people would ask, “What does Ilya think?” and listen to him. Katia was the same.

Katia always took her education very seriously. I remember once seeing her running down a hallway after a training session still wearing her warm-up – she was running to the bathroom to change into the school uniform. Later, when she became a serious athlete, I would tell her, “Katia, it’s okay, you don’t have to take this exam or take part in a school event… but she would tell me, ‘No, this is my school and I am doing it.”

CHERKIZOV – Yes, and I also remember how we envied pairs figure skaters. The men always ate for two because their partners never ate in order to be thin. It was the same with Sergei and Katia. And they always go the most flowers! When they appeared, there were already strong pairs around – Valova/Vassiliev, Selezneva/Makarov, Mishkutenok/Dmitriev – and here they are, only 16 and 20 years! And later, after Dasha was born, to return to competition is worth a lot!

OLEG OVSIANNIKOV – We started out together with 50 other skaters, and I think we are the only two that survived. CSKA was a very competitive club and we were always on the edge of being thrown out. Katia, do you remember how we joined the Komsomol?

KATIA – Mmm… not, not really. Tell me!
….
Love helps on the ice. Love always helps!

VODOREZOVA – There was such harmony in that pair! We always worry how the pair will do, whether the girl will outgrow the boy… but no problems with this pair. They were so beautiful, Katia was so independent. She really held the pair together. She made Sergei more disciplined with time, because of her.

KATIA – Of course, Sergei dropped me a couple of times, but it was part of the training process. Yes, that’s how it started, I had a concussion… and he really worried about me. But I also want to say something about Marina Cherkassova. When I saw her, that’s when I decided to become a pair skater. Marina was so tiny… and they did a split quadruple twist… right, Marina? Later, when we learned that twist, I was so proud that it was just me and Marina who could do it, I was so proud to be a pair skater.

MARINA CHERKASSOVA – Katia did not jump well, everyone was so small, but she was so artistic, so we convinced Sergei to skate with her. He asked for someone small… and at first he didn’t want to skate with her, but then they got used to each other.

NATALIA – Sergei was very secretive, there was a part of his life where he did not let anyone. He did not tell me about his love for Katia, he just told us that he was marrying her. Parents reacted normally, they knew her parents, so no one was against it…

Of course I remember when I heard the bad news, you can never forget it. They called me very late, it was horrible. I could not believe it, because he was so healthy, young and handsome… My problem was also that I did not know how to tell Mom. We told her he was in a hospital, in a very bad condition. But she realized everything right away, she just asked us, “Is he dead?” and we were silent. That’s how we found out.

ARHIPOV (doctor) – No, I can’t say that they did not take good care of Sergei in America. Of course, athletes in Soviet times regularly went through thorough physicals and if something was wrong, the problem would be corrected. In Moscow, we would have seen him sooner and may have done something to help him… but that’s “what if”… it only makes people bitter.

GOLDMAN (Sergei’s mom’s friend) – His mom was heartbroken. She would visit us for years after his death. She said that he had complained about his health. One summer he told her that he felt very, very bad…

KATIA – He complained about his back, like I said, but we did not do regular physicals in America, like in Russia where we would go through them twice a year. In the US, we would train for years without seeing any doctors.

There were no mystical signs. A mirror was broken, our car mirror… if you talk about such signs…and yes, our last program was to Requiem.

NATALIA – I used to go to his grave a lot more often, now not so often. The grave was vandalized. At first, it had a beautiful crystal, it was Katia’s idea… you can see [on the screen]. It was beautiful, especially when the sun was shining through it, it sparkled… and it was the symbol of ice. At first I got a call that a piece was broken off. We fixed it, but then again someone broke it. Now the grave looks dull.

SHAHIN (Zhuk’s friend) – Zhuk loved this pair, but it so happened that he was no longer allowed to coach them and after that, his health deteriorated. It was his last great pair, and he felt it. Once he lost them, he lost the drive and the inner strength that had kept him going.

ZHUK’S WIFE – Katia can confirm this or not, but for a long time Katia and Sergei were being convinced to leave Zhuk. They did not want to leave, but they were being “worked on” after a certain situation… which I don’t want to talk about… so they had to leave.

KATIA – No, no one made us leave. It was our mutual decision to go to Stanislav Leonovich, a young coach. We liked Zhuk and training with him, but a time came when we could no longer stay with him. A coach’s fate is that you can put your heart, your everything into an athlete, but there comes a time to part ways… An athlete decides, or the parents, it doesn’t matter, it’s just a situation… like divorce or marriage. No body makes them, it just happens and it’s natural, it’s like any relationship.

I don’t know where I am going to be in ten years. Maybe, I will just be a mom, or maybe even a grandmother… my oldest daughter is 15 years. I would like to be a coach or a mom… I don’t like to plan so far ahead. But it will be related to figure skating.

VODOREZOVA – She also skates beautifully, gives so much pleasure to people… it’s amazing. And you should see how Dasha and Liza skate! Lisa is preparing as a professional, mom and dad take an active part in that.

CHERKASSOVA – Ilya will be a great coach, Sochi will be ours!

ILYA – Lisa skates, but she won’t be ready for Sochi. 2017 maybe…