1995
From a Russian magazine:
DEATH ON ICE - THE LAST INTERVIEW OF THE FAMOUS FIGURE SKATER
by Sergei Samokhvalov
translated by Olya Smolyanova
When I was preparing for this publication, Sergei Grinkov was still among us. Suddenly - the chilling news. Our wonderful athlete and a great guy died. He died in America. He was only 28 years old.
It was decided to leave this article in the same section where it was planned to be published: "Your Idol". True idols never die...
Sergei, you will stay in Moscow for a little while and then go back to America, is that the plan?
Sergei: Over there is our work, something we love to do. I don't think our departure will add any problems to the Russian sport. Russian school of figure skating is still very strong. There are plenty of talented coaches who are working with young skaters: Galina Vasiljevich, Vladimir Sakharov. It's too early for Katia and I to think about leaving the ice. We will serve it a little bit longer.
Who introduced you to figure skating?
Sergei: My parents. They have always had a passion for the arts. To them, figure skating is the same as ballet.
Who has become your devoted partner on the ice?
Sergei: Katia, my wife. I was 15 and she was 11 when we became a pair. We've been together ever since.
So your love happened sort of... automatically?
Sergei: From the very start, we had a very serious relationship based on trust. I don't think you could call it love back then. We shared happy days and sad days. There was a lot of respect too. It's impossible to have a solid union without respect, not to mention achieving success in sports
In 1984 we won Junior World Championship in Colorado'springs, but we were just partners working together. Otherwise we would have never won all these medals
Still, four years ago you became husband and wife. Is Katia a good housewife? Is she your ideal woman, a woman you imagined you would some day marry?
Sergei: I accept Katia the way she is. I like everything in her, but I also realize that every person has faults.
Have you ever regretted your choice?
Sergei: Never. We never argue, even over little things. We try to spend as much free time together as possible. We don't have a leader in the family - each of us has certain responsibilities around the house.
Let's go back to figure skating. The medal in Lillehammer was your second Olympic gold. Do you feel guilty about that? You already have one medal from Calgary. Do you think that by returning to amateur skating you "cut the wings" of the young skaters?
Sergei: I don't think so. These young skaters didn't perform as good as we did in Norway, so they did not deserve the gold. They weren't as prepared to the competition as we were - and it was easier for them to get into competitive shape because they had been competing in Europeans and Worlds. These competitions put you in a fighting mode. Katia and I didn't have that. We had to learn most difficult elements all over again.
the G&G corner - Copyright © Su-jan Yip, September 1996 - 2007