JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
by LOIS ELFMAN T
he night before four-time U.S. ice dancing pewter medalists Beata Handra and Charles Sinek did this interview for SKATING
magazine, they went out to dinner at a nice restaurant in San Francisco to cele- brate their 16th wedding anniversary. It was quite a bit more upscale than the no- frills beginning to their married life. Te couple, who represented the United States at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, had a courthouse wedding with Sinek’s brother as their only witness. Handra joked that the dress she wore cost a fraction of what any of her skating costumes did. Te unlikely odds that these two
would even team up, much less get mar- ried, show that you can never predict where life takes you. What’s even more re- markable is that they overcame enormous struggles to stay in competition and earn an Olympic spot.
When asked what some of their fond- est skating memories are, Handra laughed. “Te fondness I would say came with age,”
she said. Broke and on the verge of quitting, they found a way to finance their training by creating Sk8tape, a product that protects boots and makes them last longer. At one point they lived in an apartment so small they slept on a mattress that they placed on top of boxes of inventory. “As we would sell the inventory, we would
strategically move the boxes,” Sinek said. “Like Jenga,” added Handra, referring to a popular game. “By the time the year was up, the mattress was on the floor,” Sinek said. It was only by a bizarre twist of fate that
Handra, 35, and Sinek, 43, teamed up. Sinek had competed at the junior and senior levels at the U.S. Championships in the 1980s, retiring due to a bad left knee. He settled into coaching. In the summer of 1994, he accompanied two female students who were competing as a same-sex pairs team to Gay Games IV in New York City. His team was at the rink practicing when an announcement came over the public address system that the level four male/male compulsory dance competition had to be canceled because one of the skaters in the two teams entered had to drop out. Te announcer asked somewhat jok- ingly if anyone would like to step in and take his place so the competition could continue. “One of the ladies I was with grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand up and pointed to me and yelled loudly, ‘He’ll do it,’” Sinek recalled. “At that point, I had a choice — I could either pull my hand down and say, ‘No, I won’t’ or I could keep my hand up and hope they were only kidding. Tey weren’t kidding. I said, ‘I don’t have skates.’ Tey made an announcement and someone in the audience had a pair of skates that sort of fit me. Tey were custom boots with free- style blades.” His instant partner, Stephane Vachon, then
told Sinek he would be skating the woman’s steps in the two dances, Viennese Waltz and Westmin- ster Waltz. After a quick practice, Sinek soon learned Vachon was a pretty weak lead, so he’d be skating the woman’s steps and leading. Somehow, they pulled it off beautifully and won gold. It was only after they’d received their gold medals that Sinek told Vachon he was straight. Te (national and international) judges were effusive in their praise of Sinek’s skating and encouraged him to return to competition. With his knee healed and his competitive
fires stoked, Sinek set about finding a partner. In 1995, he received a list from U.S. Figure Skating of 85 ladies looking for partners. Handra was one of three that caught his attention, even though she had no competitive experience. Two weeks later he flew to California to meet her. Teir tryout elicited anxiety for both of them, but ultimately proved fruitful. “At that point in my skating I felt confi-
dent,” Sinek said. “I was fairly well accomplished as an ice dancer. When I saw Beata get on the ice for the first time and she skated around, I didn’t want to get on the ice. I realized I wasn’t that good. She was so awesome, she intimidated me.” “Tat’s how I felt, too,” Handra said. “I saw
him get on the ice and I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’”
Tey teamed up, but came close to quitting
several times due to financial issues. Somehow, they persevered. Just when their finances stabi- lized, injuries set back their training, especially during the Olympic season. Tey had less than six weeks to prepare for the 2002 U.S. Champi- onships after Sinek battled a blood clot in his calf. In the end, though, it all worked out. With
U.S. silver medalist Tanith Belbin and bronze medalist Denis Petukhov both several years away from U.S. citizenship, the second Olympic berth behind Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev was there for the taking.
Beata Handra and Charles Sinek perform their free dance at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? “Tat whole week was emotional for
me,” Handra said of the U.S. Champion- ships in Los Angeles. “Te moment we finished our free dance we knew we skated pretty well. When we saw the results and knew we were going, the tears were pour- ing out. I still get that feeling when I watch the Olympics now. I get goose bumps just talking about it. Tose emotional feelings are very real even 10 years later.” After retiring from competition fol-
lowing the Olympics, they moved to up- state New York to coach. Tey moved to New Jersey in 2005, where Sinek was high- ly sought after as a partner for dance tests. In 2007, they moved to Oakland, Calif., where most of Handra’s family and some of Sinek’s live.
Teir latest skating business — Rock-
erz Skate Guards — recently debuted. It took about two years to fine-tune the idea, but once they put it on the market con- sumers responded.
“It’s an ergonomically designed skate guard
with a rocker-shaped bottom so when you walk you rock through your walk,” said Handra, who added that there are patents on both the rounded bottom and the v-shaped channel where the blade sits. “We wanted to make sure with our guards that they were much easier to put on and take off. “Te key safety factor is there’s an aggressive
grip, a heavy duty tread on the bottom so you don’t slip,” she added. “We have enough to worry about on the ice, let’s not worry about falling off the ice.” In addition to Rockerz, Handra is busy with
coaching. She works on everything except jumps and spins. Tis includes footwork, stroking tech- nique, presentation and choreography. Sinek also coaches, but sticks to ice dancing. “We do our own thing, but we also come to-
gether when we’re working with couples,” Sinek said.
Both say being Olympians is a tremendous
honor as well as a responsibility in terms of lead- ing by positive example. Handra proudly wears her (Olympic) ring every day. Sinek saves it more for special occasions, such as their anniversary dinner.
Tey enjoy watching the current ice dancers
and are thankful that years of effort from people who went unrewarded for stellar performances have paid off. Handra and Sinek agreed that Eliz- abeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow were amazing skaters who simply didn’t get the recognition they deserved, but were instrumental in paving the way for teams such as Belbin and Benjamin Agosto and Meryl Davis and Charlie White. As for their future, they’re planning on hav-
ing children but are trying to wait until Rockerz is a bit more established. “We have a plan for that,” Sinek said. And just as they’ve tackled every goal in life,
you know they’ll reach it. SKATING 9
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