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Amigos w/ Common Interests
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REPOST
from 2005
For lovers of ice skating and lovers everywhere . . .
Those who are skating fans will recognize these two.
The woman is Ekaterina (Katia) Gordeeva, formerly the partner and wife of Sergei Grinkov. Paired together to skate as young teenagers, they skated and won everywhere they went. They fell in love and married, they had a daughter (now 12 and skates as well), Daria. They came back to win a second gold medal in Lillehammer, then returned to professional skating.
Sergei died just ten days before the 1995 opener of "Stars on Ice" - he sat down on the ice while practicing with Katia, telling her he was dizzy. He *never* did that, she said later. Then he laid down and never got up again.
He was dead at 28 from what is termed a "widow-maker" - an undetecable blood clot that stopped his heart. His father died the same way but at an older age.
What I love about this picture is the man - Ilia Kulik, who wowed the world in 1998 (at age 21) with the first quadruple jump in an Olympics and a fantastic skating style.
He turned pro and joined Stars on Ice in 1998, first skating with Katia in a number with Dennis Petrov and Elena Bechke (also very good friends of Katia and Seregei's) called "Tell me Everything".
It was the first time since Sergei's death that Katia had skated in public with another partner - and she had two, Dennis and Ilia.
Rumours started about a romance not long after, and when Stars on Ice put this number in their 1999 show ("Casi Un Bolero" (in Spanish) sung by Ricky Martin), the rumours really flew. Well, they didn't say anything but it was true.
Katia had never expected to find another man to love - anyone who saw "Celebration of a Life" knows how special Sergei was.
Ilia came along, and in 2000 they married just before their daughter Elizaveta (now 4 and skating) was born.
They have not skated a number together (in a show anyway) since, but they often skate in the same shows. He has been interviewed talking about how much he loves his family (he is younger than Katia by a few years) and how he loves being a father.
He continues to wow fans with amazingly creative routines (he does most of his own choreograohy), and Katia continues to skate as well. They both coach their daughters.
I love this shot, which I got from Ilia's fan club site, which shows them in a movement from "Bolero" where their connection with each other really shows.
What was so very special about this number as well was that Ilia had never skated a "pairs" number - ever. He was trained strictly as a singles skater - he is very versatile. The skating was amazing, a combination of dance and pairs, and on the video I have of the first performance, the audience went absolutely wild when they finished.
(FYI the entire number includes an 'intro' number with dance pair Gorsha and Sur and pair skaters (also married) Meno and Sand doing a wonderfully coreographed romantic skate to the instrumental "Bolero").
::sigh::
Ain't love grand?
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