Sikharulidze, who knew Berezhnaya and was hoping to begin training with her, took a train to Riga, checked her out of the hospital, and brought her to St. Petersburg. "I hope here to be in the top 24" to qualify for next year's Olympic Games, she said. Twenty years ago, two pairs Canadians Jamie Sal and David Pelletier, and Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze faced off on Olympic ice in Salt Lake City, each couple hoping. On Jan. 9, 1996, at a practice rink in Riga, Latvia, the tiny skater with the big blue eyes was hurt. People were surprised to see her; she was wearing a scarf to cover her shaved head. Two years ago, Berezhnaya lay near death with a brain injury. Now she is at the Winter Olympics, preparing for the start of tomorrow's pairs short program. FILE - Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier compete in the pairs free program in the Winter Olympics at the Salt Lake Ice Center in Salt Lake City, Monday, Feb. 11, 2002. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze started training together in November 1996 and soon rose to be one of the top pairs in the World. Elena Berezhnaya has been listed as a noteworthy Olympic athlete, ice skater by Marquis Who's Who. And partners. They worked through the summer and fall, getting ready for the Russian nationals. Still, Sand has excruciating back pain. In 1996, on a similar spin, Elena Berezhnaya of Russia went into a coma after the blade of then-partner Oleg Shliakov became embedded in her head during practice in Latvia. Berezhnaya, who was eighth at the 1994 Olympic Games in Norway with Sliakhov, never lost consciousness after the accident, Moskvina said. By last year's world championships they soared, taking the lead in the short program. On Jan. 9, 1996, at a practice rink in Riga, Latvia, the tiny skater with the big blue eyes sustained a harrowing injury. 6. She's felt the glory of being watched by thousands of people. More than two years later, she has an accent that she didnt have before. Last night, Berezhnaya and her new Russian pairs partner, Anton Sikharulidze, brought drama to the World Figure Skating Championships. In truth, there's no evidence that either one of the athletes had anything to do with the judging scandal, according to The Cinemaholic. Youre never going to see that at a hockey game. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, the accomplished Russian pair, were awarded the gold medal, but questions regarding how the results were decided marred the event. On the third revolution of their flying camel, Davison drifted too close and his skate slashed Dube right below the left eye. The couple retired after the 2002 controversy, skating in exhibitions like "Stars on Ice," alongside Jamie Sal and David Pelletier from the Canadian team with which they shared the gold medal from the '02 games. And she and Sikharulidze are gold-medal favorites. We are good skaters, and we are good guys. Lauren Senft and Leif Gislason, Canada, 76.04. "Because for two consecutive years my coach and I stay in the United States, we were not familiar with some of the regulations, especially financial regulations," she said through an interpreter. Im not kidding. Did Oleg Shlyakhov apologize to her for an injury that nearly left Elena disabled? They became two-time European champions, two-time world champions and Olympic champions in Salt Lake City. 10. The following media includes potentially sensitive content. An Accidental Pairing, a Perfect Couple By Jennifer Frey Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, February 10, 1998; Page D3 NAGANO, Feb. 9Elena Berezhnaya remembers that Anton Sikharulidze . Steuer, by the way, has had six knee operations. She is, however, skating well, although with a new partner, Anton Sikharulidze. She nursed the skater back to health. Her head snapped back and she collapsed face-first on the ice. Before that 1998 victory, Lipinski was a regular kid with a supernatural ability to absolutely slay on both the roller and ice skating rink. I know what youre thinking. He had a son with his partner, Viktoria, in 2014 and from what we can tell, lives in Russia. Elena and Anton finished second behind them at the 2001 World Championships. "I am rather emotional, but I won't cry," she said. Dungjen is still wearing an elastic bandage on his hand from an injury suffered last November. Anastasia Gimazetdinova, Uzbekistan, 46.15. Berezhnaya said she was scared only "a little bit, at the beginning," when she returned to the ice. The couple was considered one of the most beautiful in figure skating, and fans expected Elena and Anton to become a couple in life. In January of 1996, her partner, Oleg Shilakhov, slashed a deep cut into her skull with his skate while they practiced. It's called "MEDDLING" and looks deeply into the impact the judging misdeeds had on the two pairs teams involved: Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton. Olympic athlete. And now, at the worlds, a medal is within reach entering tonight's long program. If we did the lifts and I fell, it would be a big, big problem. And it was he who helped her recover from the terrible events that occurred in Latvia. Russia was immensely successful when it came to figure skating. Two of the nine judges put them in first place, but overall, they are behind Germany's Mandy Wotzel and Ingo Steuer and fellow Russians Marina Eltsova and Andrei Bushkov. Anticipated strikes in nuclear power plants, no child pornography in Palmades computer, PSG player Achraf Hakimi indicted for rape News from this Friday, March 3, Toyota in France, hybrid aircraft factory of Aura Aero, flex-office at Saint-Gobain The five most read articles, these creatures tease the return of Ezra Bridger. Doctors operated to open her skull to clean out bone. There Elena performed with her first partner figure skater Oleg Shlyakhov. She doesn't remember the toe pick of Oleg Sliakhov's skate catching her on the left side of her head. "I did not think of her skating. They won Olympic gold in 2002 and silver in 1998. According to The Cinemaholic, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were competitively fearsome prior to their appearance in the 2002 Olympic Games, winning silver in the '98 Olympics. Doctors cleaned out the wound and hoped for the best. Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, United States, 175.48. There have been some horrific accidents. She underwent emergency surgery, spent a month in the hospital and left unable to speak without slurring. Maria Borounov and Evgeni Borounov, Australia, 37.10. Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin, Canada, 162.79. "The joy has come out of it." The couple meshed, finishing second in the Russian championships and third at the European championships. He became the father of two children of Elena a son and a daughter, but the skaters did not officially marry. . Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Get to know all 17 Denver mayor candidates , Jamal Murrays brilliant fourth-quarter leads Nuggets over Grizzlies, 2023 Colorado state basketball tournament brackets, results, Keeler: From Tennessee Vols to CU Buffs, everybody wants Bri Crittendon. "I told Anton that Elena was like a vase," she recalled. "We understand what we're doing," Sikharulidze said. Netflixs Bad Sport: Gold War provides a fascinating look at the fiasco. Berezhnaya won all three with another partner. mike vernon royal household; are there snakes in gran canaria; shooting in laurel, md yesterday. Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya (Russian: , born 11 October 1977) is a Russian former pair skater.With partner Anton Sikharulidze, she is the 1998 and 1999 World champion, 1998 Olympic silver medalist and 2002 Olympic champion.. Berezhnaya first competed with Oleg Shliakhov for Latvia and won gold at the 1995 Trophe de France. Shes in good spirits and sent her well-wishes to all of the other skaters.. They bagged a silver medal in the 1998 Olympics, setting the stage for them to win many more competitions from then on. All structured data from the main, Property, Lexeme, and EntitySchema namespaces is available under the Creative Commons CC0 License; text in the other namespaces is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter. Berezhnaya wished to return to the ice and doctors agreed that physical exercise would be therapeutic. There, they came in second. Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow of the United States are sixth. Elena Berezhnaya started skating when she was quite young. Berezhnaya wished to return to the ice and doctors agreed that physical exercise would be therapeutic. How do I like skating? So, lets find out what happened to Elena and Anton since then, shall we? She doesn't remember the blade leaving a two-inch gash through her hairline, or penetrating her skull. "Let's speak about her health. Dmitriev won the Olympic gold medal in 1992 and the silver in 1994 with Natalia Mishkutenok but had to find a new partner when she gained too much weight for him to lift comfortably. The controversial story of Canadian figure skating pair Jamie Sal and David Pelletier losing gold to Russians Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya during the 2002 Winter Olympics in an organized crime scandal spanning three continents. 1 figure skaters (since 200102 season), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elena_Berezhnaya&oldid=1141003074, Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics, Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics, World Figure Skating Championships medalists, European Figure Skating Championships medalists, Goodwill Games medalists in figure skating, Season-end world number one figure skaters, Sixth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Russian-language text, Articles with Latvian-language sources (lv), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 21:38. She has two children with her ex-husband Steven Cousins and seems to live in Russia, spending time with her kids. But on 9 January 1996, Berezhnaya was seriously injured when ahovs' blade sliced into her skull while the pair were practicing a side-by-side camel spin. Prabook is a registered trademark of World Biographical Encyclopedia, Inc. Elena Berezhnaya, Russian Olympic athlete, ice skater.