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November 1995

From El Norte (Mexico):

HUNDREDS SAY GOOD BYE TO GRINKOV

translated by Rossana Esquivel

Hundreds of fans as well as international figure skating champions gathered yesterday on a local rink to pay tribute to two time Olympic figure skater Sergei Grinkov, who died of a heart attack during a training session, he was only 28 years old.

Grinkovīs medals and flowers surrounded his open coffin placed at the center of the Red Army rink , where he started his career.

Olympic champions Scott Hamilton, Oksana Baiul and Victor Petrenko were among other Russian figure skating stars who attended the funeral.

Yekaterina Gordeeva, Grinkovīs widow, who was also his partner on the ice was there as well. Most of them in deep grief.

Grinkov was buried on Moscow’s Vagankovskoye cementery. He died on Lake Placid, N.Y. on Monday when he and Gordeeva were practicing for an up coming show.

They both stared to skate as children in Moscow and went on to win 2 Olympic gold medals and 4 world championships.

Grinkov and Gordeeva were famous for their powerful lifts and spectacular throws, The "quadruple twist" was their specialty.

They had won their first gold on Calgary, Canada in 1988, and then in Lillehammer in 1994 they won their second Olympic gold medal.

Yelena Chaikovskaya coach in chief for Russiaīs figure skating team said of them yesterday: "they were a great couple, it was always a pleasure to see them skate".

Grinkov and Gordeeva lived in Tampa, Florida and Simsbury, Connecticut where they were part of a small colony of skaters from Russia and other nations that once formed the USSR.