World champions in pair skating Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov. 1986 Photo: RIA Novosti / Yakovlev

Life Sergei Grinkov- this is a love story. Unfortunately, this is a sad love story, which was told to us in the first person by the heroes of this story themselves. Directly from TV screens. The story is beautiful, bright, passionate, but painfully short.

Born on February 4, 1967, Sergei Grinkov, without knowing it, until 1981 walked through life next to a girl four years younger, who lived in one of the neighboring houses. They went to the same secondary school - number 704, but did not know each other - the age difference was too great for that. They went to the same figure skating section, but also did not intersect. Sergei, from the age of five, like Katya from the age of three, tried to build a solo career.

By 1981, it became clear that the guys’ jumps were not high enough for single skating. They were introduced to each other - and this is how their first acquaintance took place, which became fateful for both, as well as for the whole world. She was only 10 years old, he was 14, and then they did not yet know that fate would link them forever, not only in sports terms.

At that moment, all they had in their minds was sports. In six months, the guys tested a new program, with which they began performing in 1982.

Their first coaches were Vladimir Zakharov And Nadezhda Shevalovskaya. Progressing rapidly, in just three years, in 1985, they became world champions among juniors, and at the Soviet Union Championship, in which the best figure skaters in the world then competed, the young debutants took a high sixth place for themselves.

Noticing the potential of young athletes, they were invited to join him by the most eminent coach at that time, Stanislav Zhuk. It was under his leadership that in 1986 the couple won the title of world champions for the first time. At that time, young Katya was only 14 years old - then a record age in the entire history of world figure skating championships. That same year they came second at the European Championships and won silver at the USSR Championships.

Just a year later, in 1987, having moved to a new coach, Stanislav Leonovich, the couple won all the major competitions in which they took part: the World Championship, the European Championship and the USSR Championship, which means that Grinkov and Gordeeva approached the 1988 Olympic Games as the main favorites.

In 1988, Sergei was 21 years old, Katya had just turned 17, but it was already noticeable that the guys were bonded by more than just partnership and sporting interests. Perhaps it was precisely this spiritual closeness that helped them move forward and win all competitions, including the Olympic Games, which they conquered with amazing ease. It is interesting that the free dance, which went down in the history of figure skating as a real masterpiece, was performed to the “Mendelssohn March”.

World champions in pair skating Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov and world champion in singles skating Alexander Fadeev with his coach Stanislav Zhuk. Photo: RIA Novosti / Yakovlev

Again, but in a different setting, the legal husband and wife, Sergei and Ekaterina, heard this passage three years later, on April 20, 1991, at their own wedding. By that time, they not only managed to become four-time world champions, but also ended their amateur career by moving to the theater Tatiana Tarasova, where you could not only do what you love, but also get good money for it, which was very important in our country in the early 90s. For the sake of earning money, it was decided to even skip the 1992 Olympics.

A year later, the couple had a daughter, Daria. At this time, they performed a lot at foreign tournaments and took part in a large number of commercial projects. For their sincerity and perfect technique, as well as for their great love for each other, they were loved in the USA and Canada and nicknamed G&G - after the first letters of their last names. Americans give similar nicknames exclusively to movie and pop stars.

Sergey Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva. No later than 1995. Photo: www.russianlook.com

A year later, in 1993, the International Olympic Committee apparently realized what a huge market share they were losing by categorically prohibiting couples who had become professionals from taking part in the Olympics, and slightly softened their charter, allowing those who wished to return and take part in the transitional Olympics. games in 1994. Grinkov and Gordeeva took advantage of this opportunity. Having returned to amateur status, Sergei and Ekaterina repeated their success of 1987, winning the national, European and world championships, but this time, to their scattering of gold medals, they also added a top award with five Olympic rings on it.

After this triumph, the couple returned to professional sports, giving way to Olympic achievements for the young. But not for long... On November 20, 1995, Sergei Grinkov suffered a massive heart attack during training in Lake Placid and died right on the ice during training.

In 1996, Ekaterina Gordeeva returned to the ice. Her first performance was dedicated to her late husband and performed in a crowded arena on his memorial day. Ekaterina danced a poignant program called “Celebration of Life” to the composition Celebration of Life - an excerpt from the fifth symphony Gustav Mahler. At the end, the girl could not hold back her tears. In order to somehow calm her mother down, her 4-year-old daughter Dasha ran out onto the ice.

After that, there were other partners in Catherine’s life, and the husband with whom she married in 2001, and another daughter, but the only one whom sports fans remembered next to her was and remains Sergei Grinkov, who would have turned 47 today years…

20 years ago, the famous figure skater Sergei Grinkov died of a heart attack.

Nobody believed in his death. The mind refused to accept the fact that a young athlete, full of strength and energy, the darling of fate, collapsed on the ice right during training - and never woke up. Five minutes later an ambulance rushed to the skating rink. American doctors tried for an hour and a half to save the Russian figure skater. Failed. Sergei GRINKOV was only 28. Together with Katya GORDEEVA, he managed to become a three-time European champion, a four-time world champion and a two-time Olympic champion.

It happened on November 20, 1995 in Lake Placid. Death Sergei Grinkov shocked not only our figure skating fans, but also the whole of America. In nine cities in the United States and Canada, Russian churches celebrated a memorial service in his honor. Leading American newspapers and television channels, according to Ekaterina Gordeeva, reported details of this tragedy for several days.

Seryozha and I then performed in the ice show “Stars on Ice,” recalls Katya. - At the skating rink in Lake Placid that day, a famous American was training next to us Scott Hamilton. When Seryozha suddenly fell, Scott and his compatriot Paul Wiley immediately rushed to help. They both then flew to Moscow for the funeral. All the skaters from the Stars on Ice troupe took the time to find me and offer their condolences. Some in person, some by phone.

Before the 1994 Olympics, Sergei and I, as members of the Russian national team, underwent a full medical examination. We didn't find anything. A few months before the tragedy, Serezha took blood tests. His cholesterol was elevated. But is this fatal? Nobody could even think about anything bad. And the specialists who performed the autopsy said that he suffered a heart attack in his sleep. That very night, before the fateful training.

The sports couple Gordeeva - Grinkov was not just loved. She was adored. For the purity of the lines, for the precision of the steps, for the most complex twists, jumps and todes. And for the amazing state of admiration and delight that these skaters gave the audience. As Katya and Sergei grew up and brought more and more medals to the country, the honorable public began to wonder when they would get married. Looking at the tenderness with which Grinkov looked at his partner, it was not difficult to assume that the guy was in love. But Seryozha did not dare to open up right away. He informed his sister Natalya about this. She, of course, couldn’t stand it and blabbed everything to her mother.

Our mother, Anna Filippovna, clasped her hands,” said the skater’s sister. - And then I called Elena Lvovna, Katya’s mother. So Serezha’s feelings very quickly became an open secret. While the children were only exchanging languid glances, their parents were already aware and began to make plans.

The declaration of love happened on New Year's Eve, December 31st. Katya Gordeeva was 18 years old, her partner was 22. They were invited to his dacha by a famous figure skater Alexander Fadeev, who also trained at CSKA. While the owner was warming up the sauna, Katya and Seryozha sat in the dressing room and sipped light wine. And when Sasha opened the door, his guests were already kissing. Seeing such a picture, Fadeev was embarrassed and immediately returned to the steam room.

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It was our first kiss,” Gordeeva later recalled. - And he was followed by a second, a third...

A year and a half later, the lovers got married. By the way, the groom was almost late for her.

Here is how it was. The wedding was scheduled in advance, for April 20, 1991. At this time, the skaters' season is already behind them. But Grinkov, as luck would have it, received a serious shoulder injury a little earlier - he had to undergo surgery in America. And now the bride in Moscow tries on a white dress, and two days before the wedding the groom is still in the USA. Finally he arrives, his hand bandaged. And in this form Grinkov appears at the registry office. Already there it turns out that they cannot sign the newlyweds - in a hurry, the groom forgot to take his passport. But the leaders of the federation put in a good word for the absent-minded champion, and the registry office employees turned out to be fans of figure skating. They stamped Sergei's passport retroactively.

Unexpected dove

A week later, Gordeeva and Grinkov got married in the Vladimir Church. And four years and seven months later, the same priest Nikolai performed the funeral service for Seryozha. Thousands of people came to see off the outstanding figure skater on his final journey. Perhaps Moscow has not seen such a funeral since 1980, when it said goodbye to Vysotsky.

It happens: the next day after the wedding, a dove flew into Grinkov’s Moscow apartment through an open window - according to popular belief, there will be trouble. Almost no one paid any attention to it then. And the sign, it turns out, worked.

But Sergei still managed to become a father. When Catherine's contractions began, she and her husband were in the stands, watching a tennis match. Perhaps she was worried - the doctors assumed that the child would be born a little later. Sergei immediately rushed his wife to the hospital and insisted that he must be present at the birth. When daughter Dasha was born, her father was the first of the spouses to hold her in his arms. And then he handed it over to Katya.

When the famous figure skater first found out about her pregnancy, she had a thought: what a bad time it was. Gordeeva and Grinkov only recently became professionals and made grandiose plans, and Katerina is only 21 years old. What is the child like now?! But Sergei and the figure skater’s mother convinced her that she had to give birth, ice and competitions would not go away. And she listened to them. And then, years later, looking at my beloved daughter, I imagined with horror what kind of happiness I could have given up.

“I was very surprised when, there, in Simsbury, Seryozha began to arrange a room for Dasha. He bought a suitcase with tools and made a lot of useful things - various shelves, drawers, hung a lamp... Mikhail Kondratievich, Sergei’s father, had golden hands. He himself built a house in the Moscow region. When Seryozha was putting up wallpaper in Dasha’s room, I even thought: maybe time will pass, we’ll grow old, and we’ll also have our own home. And my husband will build it. Did not work out.

After Grinkov’s death, Katya transferred $10 thousand to her mother-in-law for several years. Anna Filippovna was already a widow by that time. Her husband, like her son, died of a heart attack. But he lived twice as long as Sergei.

Grief-stricken Anna Filippovna did not last long - in the spring of 2000 she died. Of the skater’s close relatives, only his sister Natalya remains alive, except for his daughter.

We rarely see Katya Gordeeva. She has lived in America for a long time, and comes to Moscow once or twice a year,” Natasha said. - But in October Katya called me and invited me to the ice musical “Carmen” at Luzhniki. She has an interesting role there - the beloved of the main character. Roman Kostomarov plays Jose, and Katya plays his fiancée Micaela. It turned out that Gordeeva and Tatiana Navka(in the role of the gypsy Carmen) - two rivals in the fight for one man. I saw such passion on the ice! It’s a pity that we weren’t able to talk after the performance.

Natalia Grinkova works as a cosmetologist. She brews creams and gives clients facial massages. She divorced her first husband, and a misfortune happened to her second - he died early. While her star brother was alive, Natalya wanted to visit the United States, but American officials denied her a visa three times in a row. Apparently, they were afraid that an unmarried woman from Russia would remain in their wonderful country. And when Sergei Grinkov died, his sister was given a visa without a sound.

According to Natalya, she now sees her own daughter infrequently. Svetlana works in a travel agency. One day she met a hot brunette from Greece named Mario on the Mediterranean Sea. He fell in love and took the niece of the famous figure skater to his homeland.

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Got my head spinning

Ekaterina Gordeeva is not alone either. After Grinkov’s death, she basically did not look for a new partner for pairs skating. But such a beautiful and young widow, of course, could not remain without male attention. In 2001, she married Olympic champion Nagano Ilya Kulik, who is six years younger than Katya. Ilya later admitted to the author of these lines that they hid their relationship for a long time because they were afraid of people’s rumors and the annoying attention of the press. But where can media people get away from it? In 2008, in the TV show “Ice Age,” Gordeeva diligently taught the actor the basics of figure skating Egor Beroev. He was so fired up that he didn’t miss a single workout. The newly created duet Gordeeva - Beroev captivated not only the audience, but also the judges and became the winner of the project.

And then publications appeared in a number of media outlets about a romance that broke out between the famous figure skater and the famous actor. It was reported that they were seen together in a restaurant and that they allegedly rented one room for two in a luxurious metropolitan hotel.

Katya commented on those rumors as follows:

Egor and I were even married on the Internet. Although he has a wife - Ksenia Alferova, and I have a husband. I didn’t read it myself, but Yegor told it to me in vivid colors, and we both laughed.

However, Beroev himself, having drunk a little too much, once admitted to a colleague in the acting workshop:

Katya really won me over. You can't help but fall in love with her.

A Lyudmila Krainova(grandmother of Ksyusha Alferova and mother of the famous actor Alexandra Abdulova) in an interview with a popular magazine dotted all the i’s. She confirmed that at that moment the marriage of Beroev and her granddaughter was bursting at the seams. Ksenia even packed her things and moved to live with her mother, an actress. Irina Alferova.

“I was very worried about Ksyusha,” recalled Lyudmila Alexandrovna. - I decided to find out, maybe the journalists made it up? But Ira admitted to me: everything is true. Yegor's affair was serious.

However, after the end of the television project, Gordeeva returned to the USA, and everything was slowly forgotten.

Unfortunately, my eldest daughter Dasha quit figure skating,” the two-time Olympic champion says with some sadness. - I got carried away with my studies. But the youngest Lisa Kulik, continues to ride. At one time she studied in Moscow with Inna Goncharenko(coach of the Russian champion Elena Radionova. - S.D.). And in recent years, her father Ilya has been training her.

According to experts, 16-year-old Elizaveta Kulik has good prospects, but it will be difficult for her to reach the level of her star parents.

Let us add that the 23-year-old Daria Gordeeva-Grinkova has turned into a very pretty girl. She speaks Russian, albeit with a strong accent. And Dasha is interested not only in her studies, but also in boys. One American student has already proposed to her...

Quotes

Scott HAMILTON, Olympic champion and four-time world champion in men's singles:

- Sergei Grinkov I considered him my friend, although he is Russian and I am American. We Americans know how to earn and value money, but this guy didn’t really value money and sometimes lost it. But he knew how to appreciate people.

Daria GORDEEVA-GRINKOVA, daughter of a figure skater:

- When dad died, I was three years old. I was then with my grandmother in Russia. Then my mother came from America, and they took me to a psychologist. He explained what happened. I often heard stories about my father and looked at his photographs. They said that I had his gait, that I did everything like him, and that I generally looked like him.

On April 20, 1991, a wedding took place in Moscow. That Saturday, hundreds of happy newlyweds from the capital got married, but this celebration stood out: the bride and groom were the country's super-popular figure skaters Sergei Grinkov and Katya Gordeeva.

Sergei was almost late for the painting - he was recovering from an injury in the USA, and, as luck would have it, the flight was postponed. Moreover, in the bustle I forgot my passport. But the registry office employees gave up on this. Grinkov and Gordeeva were adored not only by the whole country, but also by the whole world.

Thumbelina and the hero

...At first, Sergei and Katya were almost no different from other couples with whom the famous trainer Stanislav Zhuk worked. After the stars Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev left him, Zhuk continually brought very small girls and relatively adult boys onto the ice, both in age and height. For the time being, tiny little girls took off like fluff and twirled in the hands of their partners, and then quickly grew up, violating all the trainer’s plans.

Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk. Photo: Wikipedia

Katya and Sergei were paired up when he was 15 and she was 11 in 1982. At that age it's a huge difference. Grinkov even wanted to quit figure skating, but then he resigned himself to it.

The duo immediately attracted the attention of specialists and judges; in 1984 they won the World Junior Championships, and then they were taken in by the “golden body master” Zhuk. In 1986, they became second at the USSR and European Championships, and then, overturning the unwritten laws of figure skating, where you have to stand in line for medals, they won the World Championship. 14-year-old Ekaterina Gordeeva becomes the youngest holder of this title in history.

Both Seryozha and Katya were loved on the team, although the relationship between the skaters is always quite complicated. Grinkov - for his kindness and eternal optimism, Katya - for her charm, which was always combined with determination and hard work. In addition, she loved to cook and always baked something delicious for everyone, although she herself tasted her creations extremely rarely.

Their sporting path was not strewn with roses, but few people knew about it. Almost immediately after winning the world title, under pressure from different sides, they were forced to leave their coach. They wrote a letter against Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk, accusing him of drunkenness and molesting young students... Then they said that the great coach had been slandered. But at that moment they put serious pressure on the skaters; they threatened to draft Grinkov into the army and send him somewhere to Siberia.

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov.

In general, the couple began working with Zhuk’s student Stanislav Leonovich. Their choreographer was Marina Zueva, who now trains the world's best dance duets, working in the USA. But then it was she who was considered involved in the scandal surrounding Stanislav Zhuk.

At the end of 1987, the couple experienced another difficult test: they wanted to disband. Even very titled athletes in the USSR were almost powerless before “superior” organizations. As a result of all these intrigues, Sergei’s nerves were so lost that he accidentally dropped Katya from his support, and the girl received a concussion. But there was very little left before the Olympics in Calgary. But they won this Olympics, and their free program, which is still considered a masterpiece, was set to the music of Chopin, Mozart and Mendelssohn.

Katya was tiny - 152 cm, 40 kilograms of weight, and Sergei looked like a real Russian hero against the backdrop of his miniature, charming partner with huge eyes. Everyone was interested: what is the relationship between these young people off the ice? In those days, our commentators sparingly talked only about those who officially registered the relationship. And therefore, the entire figure community was happy when, some time later, in one of the newspapers, the couple’s coach told that Sergei was “courting” Katya.

Signs of fate

The explanation between the guys took place on New Year's Eve from 1989 to 1990, which Katya and Sergei spent at the new dacha of their friend, figure skater, world champion Alexander Fadeev. They wanted to get married right away, but fate sent them the first warning: Sergei’s father suddenly died of a heart attack. The skaters postponed the wedding. At the same time, the couple became world champions for the fourth time. Having won everything they could in amateur sports, they wanted to go professional.

They were invited to her Ice Theater by Tatyana Tarasova, and in addition, they decided to participate in the world championships among professionals. Sergei and Katya were determined to get on their feet outside of big sports and create a financial base for their future family. And in April 1991 they got married and got married.

The wedding of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. Still from the Channel One program “Love for Life”

On the second day after the wedding, a dove flew into the window of Katya’s apartment. Her mother was upset: “That’s a bad omen,” but Katya just smiled. What bad omens can there be for people who are perfect in their work, beautiful, successful, famous and at the same time cannot live without each other?

Three months later, Katya became pregnant. At first she was upset: the birth of a child violated all their plans and obligations, but then she decided to give birth. Dasha Grinkova was born in America. Little Katya gave birth to a miniature girl - the baby weighed 2600 grams. Sergei was the first to take his daughter in his arms. Katya was very worried that she had such a tiny girl and was even embarrassed to show her to her mother.

Sergey Grinkov. Still from the Channel One program “Love for Life”

Fallen star

After giving birth, Katya quickly started training. The couple successfully performed in the American show Stars on Ice. In 1993, professionals were allowed to participate in amateur competitions again, and, to the great joy of all figure skating fans, the Gordeeva-Grinkov pair not only returned, but also won their second Olympics in 1994. This was followed by new prestigious contracts. They now have a permanent home in the USA, where Sergei happily furnished the nursery with his own hands. And no one knew that there was nothing left before the tragedy.

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov on a 1998 Azerbaijan postage stamp. Photo: Wikipedia

On November 20, 1995, during training in Lake Placid, Sergei suddenly collapsed on the ice. His last words were: “I feel very bad.” An hour and a half later, a handsome 28-year-old man, a happy husband and father, a man whom the whole world loved, died of a heart attack. Katya was taking off his skates, already dead... The autopsy showed that Grinkov suffered from advanced heart disease, and just the day before he suffered his first heart attack.

Don't get it from anyone?..

Without exaggeration, the whole world mourned with Katya and her and Seryozha’s relatives. It didn’t fit into my head that they, so young, beautiful and happy, could be separated by death.

Sergei was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. When the young widow returned to the United States, she was immediately offered to write a book. For Ekaterina, this became a kind of outlet - a professional author came to her, and she just talked and talked. This is how the book “My Sergei” appeared, and it is clear that it immediately became a bestseller. Later, Katya even regretted that at that moment she told too many personal secrets.

The grave of Sergei Grinkov at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. Photo: Wikipedia

After some time, Gordeeva returned to the ice, where she performed alone. She had to earn money and raise her daughter. America idolized not so much her as this story that life itself wrote. A film was made, then another book appeared. But when Katya gradually recovered from her grief, gained mental strength and began dating Olympic champion Ilya Kulik, the American public was very jealous of this. Instead of simply being happy for the young woman, who could well have gone crazy from everything she had experienced, Gordeeva was condemned, including in the sports world. Her new union seemed to some a betrayal of the memory of Sergei Grinkov

Solo performance by Ekaterina Gordeeva at Smucker Stars on Ice in the USA. March 25, 2007. Photo: Wikipedia

Today Ekaterina has a husband and two daughters - Dasha Grinkova and Lisa Kulik. Gordeeva comes to Russia, she took part in various ice shows, and her skating with Yegor Beroev in one of them again caused a lot of gossip.

After all, Katya is still very good and graceful and allows few people into her private life. A life with enough happiness and sorrow for ten...

In the 1980s, all Soviet television viewers watched with delight every performance of the “golden couple.” These two skaters - Sergei Grinkov Gordeeva - impressed the enthusiastic people not only with their skills on the ice, but also with their personal relationships.

Sports childhood

Katya Gordeeva was born in Moscow in 1971, on May 28. Her father was a dancer, and her mother worked at TASS, so the family was wealthy. Four years later, the couple had another daughter, Maria.

Parents sent Katerina to the CSKA Youth Sports School at the age of three. It was this step that determined her entire future fate. In 1981, young Ekaterina Gordeeva (photo shown below) met Sergei Grinkov at the skating rink. They each trained separately, but a year later they decided to pair them up, since both of their jumps were too weak to be single skaters. They were trained. But a year later, a new coach, Nadezhda Shevalovskaya, and a choreographer began working with the young couple. After some training in 1983, this pair of young skaters took part in the World Championships and took sixth place.

Stunning victories began in 1984. This year, young skaters participated in the same international championship among juniors and received first place.

Unsuccessful performance

A few months later, in 1985, they went to a tournament in Canada, and the coach added a new triple Salchow jump to their program. This was a difficult and rare trick at the time. Ekaterina Gordeeva could not resist and fell.

Further success

After the unsuccessful trick, Katya did not give up and continued training and performing with a new coach. He led the couple to victory. In 1986, at the USSR and European championships, Sergei and Katya received silver medals. But at the beginning of spring of this year at the World Championships they earned first place. Ekaterina Gordeeva not only became a world champion, she was also the youngest among all those who won before her. Now she and Sergei became idols of Soviet viewers. Without keeping their fans waiting long, in the winter of 1987 the couple did the incredible, something that no one had done before. It was a “four-turn twist,” and the commentators couldn’t even believe their eyes. Interestingly, after the performance, Katya’s pulse was more than 200 beats per minute. So the couple became champions of the USSR.

A year of testing

At the end of autumn 1987, Sergei and Katya were training as usual, but the unexpected happened. While lifting his partner using the “star” support, the skater caught his skate, and Katerina fell from a height of almost three meters onto the ice. She seriously hit her head and suffered a concussion. Sergei was very scared and, after his partner was able to train again, he completely changed. Now he began to hold his dear partner tighter and more securely, began to appreciate her, and the two skaters turned into a couple. The relationship of the young people changed, they now valued each other.

Further career

The young figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva and her partner won gold at the Olympics in February 1988. In addition to the fact that the girl was successful in her favorite business, she was included in the lists of the most beautiful people in the world. Having taken more than one first place, this couple went to the ice theater to see Tatyana Tarasova.

Ekaterina Gordeeva: personal life and bitter losses

Sergei and Katya loved each other, so in 1991 the skaters decided to get married. They got married, promising to love each other forever. This was the happiest and most successful couple. They always acted together. Ekaterina was radiant, because everything worked out for her both in her career and in her personal life. In 1992, the young couple had a daughter, Daria. The family moved to America. Life was going as well as possible. In addition, in 1994, the skaters received another Olympic victory. But this happiness could not last long.

At the end of November 1995, the young family went to another training session, which took place in Lake Placid. Sergei suddenly became ill. He was hospitalized and died in the hospital. He suffered a massive heart attack. Together with Katya, the whole world mourned the loss. She left behind a three-year-old daughter, Dasha, who was very similar to her father.

A year later, Ekaterina Gordeeva published the book “My Sergei...”, in which she described all the bright memories and her subsequent grief.

And then what...

Katya returned to the ice in 1996. It was skating that helped the young star overcome this grief. She took part in competitions until 2000. After this, the figure skater ended her sports career and began to take part in shows with different partners.

On the Stars On Ice show, Ekaterina met a skater who became her new partner. In 2001 they got married. The family remained to live in America, and in 2002 the couple had a daughter, Elizabeth.

It is worth noting that a documentary film was made about the famous figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva in 1998. Katya also published a second book entitled “Letter to Daria.”

Couple Ekaterina Gordeeva And Sergei Grinkov fans of figure skating nicknamed it “golden”. In their very first season on the international stage, they became the best in the world and did not lose this title for five years. Fans idolized the couple, who later became a full-fledged family and at the same time won the Olympic Games twice. But the happiness was short-lived. The idyll was destroyed after the sudden death of a partner. Catherine had to start her life again, and she succeeded. On the champion’s birthday, we remember the success story of an outstanding couple and its tragic ending.

Early championship and rental without music

From their very first performances in front of a large audience, Ekaterina and Sergei began to make the audience fall in love with them. The childish, spontaneous, weightless, smiling partner and the stately, self-confident partner amazed not only the audience, but also the judges. At the Soviet Union Championship in January 1986, the young couple managed to beat many experienced competitors and won silver medals, and with them the chance to try their hand at the international arena.

As it turned out later, the music stopped not because of technical problems, but on the instructions of the judge, who noticed that an element of his costume was torn. The couple was not given any ratings.

The European Championship also turned out to be silver for Gordeeva and Grinkov, but at the World Championship they made a splash. Their “Charleston” was appreciated by everyone. The spectators gave a long ovation, and the judges showed 5.8 and 5.9 on the scoreboard. No one could have performed better.

In the pre-Olympic season of 1986/87, which was the second for the couple at the highest level, the first drama unfolded. Figure skating fans around the world still had fresh memories of the events of the 1973 World Championships, when Rodnina And Zaitsev finished their performance without music. At the European Championships in Sarajevo, Gordeeva and Grinkov also had to finish the program only to the applause of the spectators in the stands. But, as it turned out later, the music stopped not because of technical problems, but on the instructions of the judge, who noticed that an element of his costume was torn. The couple was not given any ratings, but they were offered to do one more rental. However, there was no strength left for a second attempt, and the couple was disqualified.

Brilliant Olympics and leaving for the show

Minor setbacks did not prevent Gordeeva and Grinkov from approaching the 1988 Olympics fully armed. Before the Games they were considered favorites: after all, they had world and European champion titles behind them. However, the increased attention and pressure did not knock the couple out of the proper mood. Everyone was delighted with the ease with which Ekaterina and Sergei performed at the most important start for any athlete. It was as if they didn’t even notice that they had won the Olympic Games - the Soviet figure skaters felt so at ease and free.

“Amazing! It’s simply impossible to perform so brilliantly at the Olympic Games!” – Irina Rodnina admired her compatriots.

After the Olympics in Calgary, the champions did not slow down. Over the next two seasons, they became the best in the world twice and won the European Championship once. And then, a season before the next Olympic Games, they unexpectedly decided to end their amateur career. Everyone was perplexed, but the athletes were understandable. Tatiana Tarasova invited the couple to an ice show, which brought in more income than sports performances. In addition, Sergei and Ekaterina, whose romantic relationship had long grown into true love, decided to take care of family matters: in 1991 they got married, and a year later a daughter was born into the family.

Return and new triumph

In 1993, the International Skating Union and the International Olympic Committee made a sensational decision: to allow professional figure skaters to return to amateur sports and take part in the Olympic Games. A whole galaxy of brilliant masters has returned to the ice: singles players Boitano, Petrenko, Witt, couples Torvill And Dean, Little Teddy Bear And Dmitriev. For the second time, Gordeeva and Grinkov decided to catch Olympic happiness by the tail. Of course, upon their return, their previous merits were no longer taken into account, and they had to select for the team from scratch. But the pair’s trademark lightness, as well as technical equipment, have not gone away. They confidently won the Russian championship and went to Lillehammer.

Based on the results of the short program, the main contenders for gold medals were determined. Gordeeva and Grinkov made several small mistakes, but still managed to get ahead of Mishkutenok and Dmitriev.

Happiness ended overnight. On November 20, 1995, Sergei became ill during training. He died in the hospital without regaining consciousness.

The experts unanimously gave victory to the first pair, but the psychological pressure on the favorites was colossal. In the free program they had to perform after all their competitors, and they practically made no mistakes. Ekaterina and Sergei also needed to do everything perfectly to ensure their victory. It was still not possible to do without blots, but the judges were convinced by the speed, cleanliness of the lines and the constant smile of the partner. There is a second gold!

Tragedy and new life

“Everything was too great for us to end well,” Catherine will grieve a year after her Olympic victory. Happiness ended overnight. On November 20, 1995, Sergei became ill during training. He died in the hospital without regaining consciousness. It turned out that the day before his death he suffered a micro-infarction. Only in fairy tales do people who love each other die on the same day. In life, sometimes things happen much sadder. And Catherine’s grief was great. And together with the champion, who lost both her beloved husband and a wonderful partner, fans on both sides of the ocean grieved. This couple was loved, admired, and set as an example. It is not surprising that the book “My Sergei,” written by Gordeeva, became a bestseller.

But time erases sadness. Ekaterina began to go out on the ice again. At first she performed in singles and took second place at the World Professional Championships. The series of her performances in various ice shows also continued. In 1998, Gordeeva was invited to the American show “Stars on Ice,” where she met Ilya Kulik. A little later, a romantic relationship began, which the couple tried not to advertise. The wedding took place in 2001, and a year later their daughter Lisa was born. Ice opened a new chapter of her life for Catherine, and she again felt all its charm. Next to me is my husband, children, and my favorite job, which is the passion of my whole life. What else is needed for complete happiness?