This is a work in progress. While it has many elements, it lacks just as many. I will update it as I go along. Please feel free to comment with names of specific elements in both languages.

TUESDAYS WITH Elena VAITSHEKHOVSKAYA

At the 1994 Lillehammer Games, famous figure skating coach Alexei Mishin led Alexei Urmanov to the top of the podium. In Turin in 2006, he scaled that height with Evgeny Plushenko. The challenge facing Mishin and his star pupil now, though, is far more difficult –it’s the attempt to win the second Olympic gold in Vancouver.

A BREAK

Two years ago, I talked to Mishin in Peter. He admitted to feeling a great sense of relief since Plushenko won the Turin Olympic gold and left the sport. The need to win at all cost was too heavy a burden on his shoulders. There was also a second burden – that of subjugating his whole life over four years to one student, his moods, and his problems.

Even then, we did talk about the possibility of a Plushenko comeback and Mishin’s willingness to again be by his side. In later talks, the coach invariably emphasized that he wasn’t ready to train strong athletes until Evgeny finalizes his plans. To be fair, his words led one to the heretical thought that the coach consciously did not want to get back to elite sport with anyone else. Perhaps he was too tired. Perhaps he, like Plushenko, needed a break.

Following Evgeny’s win at the traditional skating challenge in Saint Petersburg after being absent from amateur sport for three years, Mishin and I agreed to meet. His only condition was to not tie the interview to a practice session. He explained:

Igor MOSKVIN: "I NEVER THOUGHT OF MY WIFE AND ME AS COMPETITORS."

Igor MOSKVIN

Born August 30, 1929 with the town of Bezhentsy in the Bryansk region. Renown USSR figure skating coach. First Soviet skater to take part in European championships (in 1956, with partner Maya Belenkaya). Three-time USSR pair champion (1952-1954). Carried the Olympic team flag at the closing ceremonies in Innsbruck in 1964.

Personal trainer of the first Soviet Olympic champions Lyudmila Belousova and Olet Protopopov (1964). Other students include Uri Ovchinnikov, Igor Bobrin, Igor Lisovsky, and Vladimir Kotin in single skating. Among pairs, he has coached Tamara Moskvina/ Alexander Gavrilov, Tamara Moskvina/ Alexei Mishin, Irina Vorobieva/ Alexander Vlasov, Irina Vorobieva/ Igor Lisovski, Lyudmila Smirnova/ Andrei Suraikin, Marina Eltsova/ Andrei Bushkov, Larisa Selezneva/ Oleg Makarov, and many others.

Lives and works in Saint Petersburg. Married to the famous coach Tamara Moskvina (Bratus). Has two daughters.

Coaching is hard work. Being a wife of an extraordinary coach is an almost impossible feat. What’s even more difficult, though, is having a wife who is also a coach, and who’s spent her whole life proving what a good student she’s been.

Tamara and Igor Moskvins have been married for 45 years. In fact, though, they’ve been together for much longer, ever since a 16-year old skater walked into the class of an already famous Saint Petersburg coach back in 1957. This August 30, Igor Borisovich will be turning 80.

A week prior to this anniversary, I came to Peter to visit the star team. Looking from behind the glass of the Yubileiny sports club at how Igor Borisovich unhurriedly walks toward the exit, I recalled Moskvina’s words:

“Igor was always an elegant man. I always knew women liked him; they marveled at him, and so did I. I always trusted him, and valued having someone like that next to me. I recently heard a show where a famous director said he didn’t consider family to be valuable. I was never of that opinion, and neither was Igor. Our family is the one area where we beat any other family coaching team.”

ABSOLUTIST

About 15 years ago, as Igor Borisovich and I chatted about figure skating, he said, “I spent several years sailing. There are times there where you can provoke your opponent into breaking the rules go get him disqualified. However, your opponent also knows that you can do this and tries to do the same to you. In a way, it’s a game. There is no intrigue, in-fighting, and dirt. Figure skating, on the other hand, even breaks strong men, not to mention the women…”

In that same conversation, Moskvin was also rather critical of judging, talking about his own understanding of pair skating, which is often at odds with the established rules. Now, also, once I got out a recorder, he said with doubt in his voice.

You think it’s necessary? I won’t say anything positive about figure skating, you know.

Why?

Elena Berezhnaya: This is how I am. That’s how I am by nature. That’s how mom and dad made me.

Oleg Shliakhov (0:15): I don’t like to remember that time. I did lose the battle completely.

Host: (0:25): I January of 96, skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Oleg Shliakhov were preparing for World championships. Their coach Tamara Moskvina was hoping for gold. Berezhnaya and Shliakhov were special. They had great speed, good line, and daring elements. They were seen as the champions of the future. This, however, was not meant to be.

Oleg Shliakhov’s skating career ended more than 10 years ago. Today, he’s hard to recognize. An entrepreneur doesn’t need to stay in shape.

Shliakhov (1:08): I’ve never given interviews. This is my first interview in more than a decade. I did, of course, hear about things written about me. Incredible stories were invented. I want to deny it all. There was no cruelty in our relationship. First of all, about three months prior to the injury Elena and Anton lived together – they were renting an apartment. Not only could I not raise my voice, I was afraid to look at her the wrong way. She could just go to Tamara Nikolayevna then and say she no longer wanted to skate with me.

Host: (2:00): Shliakhov – Berezhnaya – Sikharulidze. In that triangle, Anton Sikharulidze was last, and, in Shliakhov’s view, the stranger. Sikharulidze didn’t get along with his skating partner. Shliakhov feared that his rival would steal Elena Berezhnaya from him. In pair skating, that would mean starting again from scratch. However, the end of athletic career wasn’t what Shliakhov most feared.

Tamara Moskvina (2:27): During a competition in France, I went into a store. As I was selecting and buying something, I suddenly saw Oleg. I saw he was looking very tensely in one direction. I looked in the direction he was looking, and saw Elena and Anton. They were just talking, but the way they were looking at each other, I just had a light bulb go off in my head. I then understood Oleg’s look; it was tense and heavy, not without some hate in it.

Host: (3:13): Oleg Shliakhov was then nineteen; he was considered an experienced skater. Elena Berezhnaya was a novice, not to mention much younger than her partner.

Moskvina (3:25): I later found out he used to lock Lena at home, not let her out in between practices, some things like that which I couldn’t even guess at first.

Host: (3:42): Tamara Moskvina never interfered in her students’ lives. Nor that she had time. She trained several teams at the same time. She couldn’t, though, just let this one go. She called Berezhnaya in and asked her, “Do you understand you’re living in slavery?”

Berezhnaya (4:10): It was like this – there was no one around to help me solve my child-like problems, so I solved everything on my own. I just learned to ignore things. I thought that’s how things were supposed to be.

Host: (4:25): It happened at a practice. The skaters rehearsed a lift that was giving them problems. Oleg Shliakhov was becoming ever angrier with each attempt. He yelled at his partner, “Get yourself together! You’ve gotten fat as a cow! You’re too heavy to lift!” Elena Berezhnaya recalls that at that time she felt so lost, her feet became soft-like, and she lost balance as if she’s never stood on skates before in her life. The partner helped her up, and they started skating in a circle gaining speed. Oleg Shliakhov lifted his partner, but this time he brought his hands back as if he were going to throw her. Elena Berezhnaya didn’t even have time to regroup before she fell. Only after the practice did the skater sneak into the medical center.

Berezhnaya (5:10): It was patience. I believed in something, not sure what it was. There was something there. I believed it would all work out in the end. All work out in the end. Be patient like an idiot, and keeping going back to the ice.

Moskvina (5:37): She never complained. Never. We just saw Oleg have those attacks of anger. The kids would sometimes see him kick her in the stomach when he thought no one was looking.

Anton Sikharulidze (5:55): He could use his fists in his “conversations” with Lena. He then acted very unmanly on the ice, like drop her from lifts. I don’t really want to talk about it, but he was a very nasty person, to put it mildly.

Shliakhov (6:17): Well, I don’t really have anything against Anton personally, because we were certainly rivals at that time over who would become Elena’s partner. No tactic was spared. I think… mmm… basically, the winner got everything in this situation. But… I think… his actions were… Could we pause the tape please?

Host: (7:07): Oleg Shliakhov understood he was defeated, and that angered him ever more. Once, it also came to a fist fight with Anton Sikharulidze. Coach Tamara Moskvina ended up sending Shliakhov to a psychologist. He’d calm down for a bit, but then things would resume as before. After practices, Elena would run to the medical center to get something for her bruises, Oleg apologized, they went back to the ice where Shliakhov again punished his partner. Berezhnaya would be back at the medical center.

Moskvina (7:37): I talked to him a lot about it. He said himself, “I don’t understand how I can do that. I really love her. She’s a great partner and a good person.”

Shliakhov (7:447): Back then, Elena was truly in love with Anton, so all my attempts to… mmm… to keep our team together had no effect.

Host: (8:07): Elena Berezhnaya would have put up with it even longer if it weren’t for the tragedy at another practice. A week before the Worlds, Tamara Moskvina got a phone call – Elena Berezhnaya is in the hospital, recovering from brain surgery.

Moskvina (8:22): That was a nightmare. On a high bed, on a white sheet laid the seemingly dead and breathless body, completely pallid, thin beyond belief, unable to even move.

Host: (8:45): Doctors warned of a risk of complications. At best, she’d just become epileptic and become an invalid as the speech center was affected.

Sikharulidze (8:55): I got teary, especially at first when I saw Lena – she lost half her weight, though she’s small anyway. She was lying near the door, on a folding bed, with a bandaged head. I started talking to her, and saw that she was listening, but no responding.

Host: (9:12): During that last practice, Oleg Shliakhov and Elena Berezhnaya practiced a parallel spin, their signature move. They performed it really breathtakingly. No one else skated quite so close together. They rehearsed this element hundreds of times. That day, though, Oleg Shliakhov’s skate sliced right through Elena Berezhnaya’s temple.

Shliakhov (9:37): My skate hit Elena’s head. I don’t know why it happened. May be both of use weren’t really concentrating – Elena might have been thinking she’d see her lover in six days, I might have been wondering if I’d make it to Worlds. That’s it.

Sikharulidze (10:05): I didn’t witness it. However, when skaters are the level Elena and her partner were at that point, a partner always feels what’s going on, and he can prevent injuries like that. However, for whatever reason, her partner didn’t stop; instead, he continued with the element and didn’t prevent that terrible situation.

Host: (10:30): Waking up on the hospital bed, Elena Berezhnaya thought, “I’ll never get gold”. Everything that made the skater endure so much over the years seemed to go down the drain. At that moment, Berezhnaya decided – enough. Oleg Shliakhov was still hoping to get her back. He brought flowers to the hospital, literally stood on his knees next to the bed, but Elena Berezhnaya has by then made up her mind. She was caught in a trap of “tyrant/ victim”. However, she had the strength to break it off and rebuild her life.

Elena Berezhnaya did, after all, become an Olympic champion despite her injury and the need to start with a new partner from scratch. In 2002, she won her gold Olympic medal in Salt Lake City. She was then the partner of Anton Sikharulidze. It was also in Salt Lake City that Elena met her future husband, a British skater Steven Cousins. Several years later, this grew into a full scale love affair. Now, their son Trysten is almost two, and Elena and Steven are expecting a second child.

Berezhnaya (11:44): Everyone is different. I guess I should have been more confident…

Host: (11:50): After his team with Berezhnaya fell apart, Oleg Shliakhov had to leave the sport and went into business instead.

Shliakhov (11:57): After the breakup with Elena Berezhnaya, I tried doing something. For two or three years, I tried to remain in the sport, but that would require starting from scratch. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it. I therefore decided to leave the place where I couldn’t achieve anything.

I got my first taste of the "reverse" side of figure skating in all its glory three years later, at the 1994 European championship in Copenhagen. In the previous season, I managed to get to the World championships in Prague (Verner found a super cheap "bug motel" on the outskirts of the Czech capital, and while it would take us an hour to get there from the rink, the trip didn't break the budget of the still modest "Sport-Express"). At the end of the year, Verner informed me that he had an eye on a cheap hotel in Copenhagen, if, course, I was planning to show up there.

I was planning it. Pre-Olympic Europeans, where the professionals newly returned to the sport were going to skate just a month prior to the Lillehammer Games, seems quite remarkable. In addition, I was approached by the Russian figure skating association president Valentine Piseev shortly before that at one of the Russian skating events.

He had his own history with Verner. In 1992, Artur published an article called "A black figure on the blue ice" (basically, this is what really launched him as a scandalous personality); there, in his usual style, he presented his views on Piseev's role in figure skating, stuffing it not only with the excellent knowledge of his subject matter, but also with a hatred toward Soviet officials that all immigrants share. The article was replete with facts, the agglomeration of which painted a fantastically unsavory portrait.

… In particular, I worked with Oleg Shliahkhov after he parted ways we Elena Berezhnaya and started skating with another partner.

You like to take risks, I guess.

I heard that a lot while considering the Latvian federation proposal. The first thing I did was to call Moskvina to ask for her advice – Tamara Nikolayevna coached Berezhnaya and Shliakhov up until the moment Oleg’s blade sliced Lena’s temple. She said, “No way!”

Why?

Oleg is not really psychologically healthy. He is sometimes completely out of control. Besides Moskvina, I was also warned by Alexander Matveev who choreographed the kids’ programs. I then called the Latvian federation and told them I just wasn’t up to the challenge. They responded, “We know. That’s why we’re offering good money.

So I thought why not? After all, it’s a great chance to prove myself. If I can keep this man in check, I’ll probably be able to work with any athlete.

Was it a challenging task?

It was a nightmare. I’ve still not had to deal with anything as difficult in my coaching career. Working with a completely unpredictable personality requires constant vigilance. I didn’t take my eyes off Oleg the whole six months we worked together. During that time, he didn’t let go once, though he was often very close. As a result, they fulfilled their task at the World championships. They passed qualification, and, if I remember right, came 18^th.

Where you offered to continue?

I never even discussed that. Six months was quite enough for me.

March 30, 2009

Unplanned Vacation

Before I talk of our trip, I want to thank all the visitors to my site for the warm wishes regarding the Moscow performance; unfortunately, though, I wasn’t there.

I’ll have to “hang up” my skates until fall, most likely. That’s because our family will soon welcome one more little person. This happy occasion caused us to take this unplanned vacation.

It started with a long-awaited reunion with grandma and grandpa (Steven’s parents). Trysten fussed at first, but just half-an-hour later, he was eagerly sharing his new experiences in his languages. I have to say that he adapted to English very fast, and could understand it after just 2 or 3 days. Trysten now tried to repeat all words indiscriminately, and we watch it with awe.

Trysten missed his dad so much, at first he wouldn’t part with him for a minute. Together, they drew, sang songs, and, of course, played soccer!

Trysten finally met his cousin Noah, but unfortunately they didn’t find common ground at first. They examined each other carefully, and then Trysten passed the ball right at Noah, inviting him for a soccer match. Noah got confused as he’s just one, and couldn’t get into this game, so Tristan immediately lost interest in him.

The flight from Canada to Florida was fine. Each time we fly, I wonder at my little one, who behaves so well with hardly any fussing during the long flights that are often even tough on adults.

Florida welcomed us with warm weather and happy sun; it wasn’t very hot, but we sunbathed anyway. We were very happy to meet old friends - John Zimmerman, Jen Robinsone, Todd Eldridge, Yuka Sato, Ilia Kulik. They all took part in the Stars on Ice show that toured Florida right at that time. This time, we were in the audience and greatly enjoyed seeing “our” work from the outside. We couldn’t hang out with them for too long because they had to move on almost immediately, but Trysten managed to play soccer with each and every one of them in turn!

Of course, our unplanned vacation was good for everyone, as a lot difficult but happy times await us…

http://www.radiomayak.ru/doc.html?id=118117&cid= March 3, 2009

All athletes of the army club CSKA who were sent to military bases on March 1^st following an order from the Defence ministry will be temporarily relieved. According to “Soviet Sport”, the compromise has been reached on Monday following talks between the sports […] minister Vitaly Mutko and defense minister Anatoly Serdukov.

Draft-eligible athletes will be allowed to train with their teams under regular condition until the end of the year, specifies “Sport” TV station. Accordingly, ministries are continuing negotiations to regulate military service for the CSKA athletes.
[…]

http://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews.shtml?/20090302153659.shtml March 2, 2009

The minister of sport, tourism, and youth politics of Russia Vitaly Mutko has told the journalists that he’ll do anything in his power to insure that the athletes preparing for the Vancouver Olympics are not recalled to the military bases. Commenting on the news announcements about CSKA athletes being sent to the barracks for immediate service, the minister said, “It’s the reform of the Military. Too bad that it’s starting with the army sport.”

According to him, the ministry has its own suggestions for preserving the army sport. “Army sport is a huge base that include, among other things, 30 sports schools. We plan to discuss the situation with the Defense Ministry soon”, said V. Mutko.

[…]

Here is an issue that has gripped Russian sports fans for the past few days. Since some of the article is not is not related to Figure Skating, I will be giving synopsis of some paragraphs rather than full translations. To clarify – CSKA is a club in Moscow that’s affiliated (and sponsored by) the army; many of the best Soviet and Russian skaters have represented it, from Rodnina and Ulanov/ Zaitsev, to Gordeeva and Grinkov, to today’s Khokhlova and Novitski.

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1128279, March 2, 2009

“The largest and most successful athletic club of Russia, CSKA, has yesterday confirmed receiving an order from the Defense Ministry of Russia yesterday. According to this document, all athletes of draft age representing the club must be dispatched to the military bases for immediate service, while the rest are to be cut and transferred to the civilian ranks. This news about the radical reformation of CSKA has already caused consternation among Russia’s athletic leaders who believe that this can become a heavy blow to national sport.

Head of the club Sergei Kushenko yesterday abstained from commenting on the order that is directed towards cutting non-essential expenses of the ministry (it provides about half of the annual budget of its athletic division, making it 300,000,000 rubles, or $10M, for 2007). Clearly, though, it is a serious blow to Russia’s most successful club, whose athletes won 16 out 18 gold medals that Russia got at the Beijing Olympics. Essentially, the order bars those who’ve reached the draft age of the right from practicing their sport by, at least at CSKA, forcing them to seek ways to avoid immediate service by, for example, moving to other clubs; after all, they can still move to “Dinamo”. Those athletes and coaches who are not of draft age lose their officers’ salaries and other benefits. We’re talking here about turning CSKA into an ordinary civilian sports club without any benefits compared to others.

The order became an unwelcome surprise to sports leadership even though it technically fits into the framework of the military reforms initiated by Russia’s defense minister Anatoly Serduk. On October 14, 2008, he announced its beginning. Besides [changes in the military hierarchy], he planned cutting more than 160 thousand officers over three years. This entailed going aggressively after non-essential personnel, meaning doctors, economists, journalists, and interpreters; it also means athletes.

[Our] source at the CSKA told us yesterday that the order is already being actively implemented. According to him, about thirty athletes have been sent to the barracks in Teply Stan. Among them, there are several famous ones, such as Olympic champion of Greco-Roman wrestling Islambek Albiev, one of the most promising Russian skaters Artem Borodulin, and a basketball player from one of the strongest Europeans basketball clubs Andrei Voroncevich.

[…]

Figure Skating federation president Valentin Piseev, on learning that he team could perhaps not have Artem Borodulin available for the Los Angeles World Championships, did not hide his disbelief, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more stupid order. I don’t know what kind of a fighter they can make of Borodulin, but they can sure destroy him as a skater.”

As we found out, last night there were urgent consultations those interested in keeping CSKA’s high profile. They have asked sports minister Vitaly Mutko for help, and he should be letting his position known today.

http://www.velena.ru/skating/TAT_2009.html

In her presence, I feel awkward complaining even when I really wanted to – everyone sometimes has problems that appear unsolvable. Tarasova herself rarely lets on that she could have problems herself. This past year, she appeared regularly on the TV screen, always beautiful, self confident, and full of energy. It was like she weren’t the one with a string of bad luck, whose car was stolen and house robbed. Yet when I touched on this, Tatiana suddenly said, “That’s doesn’t really matter. It’s nothing compared to the illnesses of the loved ones.”

Throughout this year, she would bury herself in her work. She’d tear herself in two between home and rink, periodically making it to competitions. She consulted and choreographed; people continued to come from the world over to Moscow for her help.

We met up at the CSKA rink right after Tarasova came back to Moscow from the European championships in Helsinki.

http://news.sport-express.ru/online/ntext/28/nl280747.html

WINTER – FIGURE SKATING

SATURDAY CHATS with Elena Vaitsehovskaya

Every time I run into Maya Usova at competitions after this outstanding skater has left the sport, I think that I hardly know of a harder fate. Spending 20 years in the sport, winning the European and World championships before the Lillehammer Games of 1994, and then losing the big one. And where? In ice dancing! It’s the sport, where in those times the line to the podium lasted years and Maya with her partner and husband Alexander Zhulin dutifully stayed there ‘till the end.

It was two years prior to those Games that Usova had a personal tragedy. Her family practically fell apart, and all that remained of the once warm on trusting relationship was a piece of paper. However, they had nowhere to go. They had to keep pretending that everything was in order.

Then, she was alone for a long time. She was sick, fighting depressions… The only bright spot was her short period of professional skating with Evgeny Platov. After skating together for a few months, the dancers even managed to with the professional world championships. Yet the sport soon ended, and Usova remained the US. At the time, I thought it was for good. Then, suddenly, she called, “I am in Moscow. I got married. I work at the rink.”

A year later, we met up at the Odintsevo rink.

Yesterday, January 15^th , president of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev has signed an Order to award Russian citizenship to the Japanese Yuka Kawaguchi, the 2008 and 2009 Russian champion, third medalist at 2008 Europeans, and a fourth place finisher at 2008 Worlds together with Alexander Smirnov. Yuko Kawaguchi has briefly shared her feelings on this with the sports information agency “All Sport”.

“I have not yet become Russian citizen”, reiterated Yuka Kawaguchi. “So far, I still only hold the Japanese passport, so I am still technically a Japanese subject. However, I am of course very glad that Russia’s president has signed this order to award me Russian citizenship. I am very grateful. Now, Sasha and I will be able to compete at the Vancouver 2010 Games. That, after all, is our goal.”