February 29, 1996
From Moscow Times:
GORDEYEVA RETURNS TO SKATING, ALONE
by Stacy China
HARTFORD, Connecticut -- In a dark auditorium, the light started at the other side and slowly crept across the stage, finally covering it and meeting Yekaterina Gordeyeva. It was a friendly sign, fitting for a woman making her first foray onto the ice alone.
Gordeyeva skated Tuesday night for her husband and partner, Sergei Grinkov, who was honored by a host of friends during a special performance at the Hartford Civic Center. Grinkov, 28, died of a massive heart attack Nov. 20.
His widow was left on her own to remember who he was and what they shared, and she tried to convey that in her performance. Skating to Mahler's Symphony No. 5, Gordeyeva portrayed herself: a young woman looking for her lost love.
She let all of the emotions out, searching the crowd and burying her head in her hands as she realized he was nowhere to be found. Dressed in a simple, blue-gray short dress with her hair in a bun, Gordeyeva performed her jumps and even leaned across the ice with her right arm extended above her, as if Grinkov were still behind her staring into her eyes.
When the music ended, she walked off past the spotlight into the darkness, with her hands extended. The audience exploded into a standing ovation, and Katya Gordeyeva began to cry.
She waved off the cheers as she tried to compose herself, but eventually gave up and took her bows anyway. Gordeyeva then went over to her mother-in-law, Anna, and hugged her. She swept up her daughter, Darya, and held her as the crowd cheered louder. On the other side of the rink, she found her choreographer and friend, Marina Zuyeva, and hugged her before disappearing backstage.
The show brought tears to the eyes of many, including Oksana Baiul, who couldn't watch as television screens showed Grinkov and Gordeyeva's performance at the 1994 Olympics.
Grinkov's memory was honored by the performances and videotaped comments of national, world and Olympic skating champions including Kurt Browning and Viktor Petrenko.
Rosalynn Sumners, Paul Wylie, Baiul, Katarina Witt, Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko were among those who also came out to support their friend.
The performance was part of the Stars on Ice tour, with which Grinkov and Gordeyeva were practicing when Grinkov died. The two won Olympic gold in 1988 and 1994, and were lauded by their skating peers time and again as the best pair ever to take the ice.
Despite the obvious emotion of the night, Grinkov's friends found ways to have fun and remember the laughter they shared with him. Hamilton, in a big wig, performed to the tune of "Hair," Alexander Fadeyev did his cowboy imitation and Browning brought the house down with his rendition of the Commodores "Brick House."
The evening ended with all the skaters dressed in white and paired up, as Katya Gordeyeva passed through the couples looking at the positions she and Grinkov once shared. As the skaters formed a line, she broke off to skate on her own, happier this time and with a big smile on her face.
"I'm so happy this evening is happening," she said to the crowd after the cheers had subsided. "I'm so sad it's ending; I want to start it up all over again."
Gordeyeva introduced her mother-in-law and her parents, and Hamilton brought Darya to her from the sidelines. "Thank you, United States. Thank you so much," she said to the audience.
She left us with some advice. "Try to spend your life in happiness," she said. "Just say I love you."
Hamilton reminded her that he, the rest of the skaters and the rest of the room were doing just that. "For as long as you need all of us," he said, sweeping his arm across the arena, "we'll be there for you."
Grinkov could ask nothing better for the family he left behind.
the G&G corner - Copyright © Su-jan Yip, September 1996 - 2007