“FROM HEART” renews a
the
20-year promise
by AMY E. TUCKER PHOTOS BY AMY E. TUCKER
On Dec. 30, 2015, while the world made plans to usher in a new year, thou- sands of skating fans poured into Lake Placid’s 1980 Rink, Herb Brooks Arena, for the sold out, one-night-only performance: “Ekaterina Gordeeva: From the Heart.” Two decades earlier, Gordeeva lost her husband and longtime skating partner, Sergei Grinkov, on that same ice when he collapsed from a fatal heart attack during a Stars on Ice rehearsal. Gordeeva and Grinkov won the Olympic pairs title in 1988 and 1994. On Feb. 27, 1996, three months fol-
lowing his death, Gordeeva skated alone for the first time in front of 15,000 fans and her Stars on Ice skating family in Hartford, Connecticut. Te emotional tribute cel- ebrated Grinkov’s life and their illustrious reign in pairs skating. Tis time, “Katia” reunited with cur-
rent and future skating champions and old friends for an evening of fun, family and friendship to thank her fans for 20 years of love and support. Gordeeva’s eldest daughter, Daria
Yuka Sato, Katia Gordeeva, Victoria Sinitsina, Kristi Yamaguchi and Meryl Davis per- form to “Kalinka.”
Grinkova, hosted the event with Scott Hamilton. Te pair shared touching and humorous stories of Grinkov as father, ath- lete and friend. Always the showman, Hamilton roused
the crowd asking, “Is there a greater surface of ice anywhere in the world?” He quoted the Russian proverb, “You live, as long as you’re remembered,” then read aloud a trib- ute letter from Grinkov’s longtime friend, Viktor Petrenko, that closed with, “My friend, Sergei, will always be found in my heart. …” Skaters representing Gordeeva’s past
included World champion Yuka Sato, Olympians Paul Wylie and Kristi Yamagu- chi and Gordeeva’s second husband, Olym- pic champion Ilia Kulik. Both Sato and Wylie performed in the
original Hartford tribute, but for Wylie, this moment was especially poignant hav- ing suffered an eerily similar cardiac arrest in April 2015. “I’ve never forgotten that day,” Wylie
said. “It was such an important part of my life. Sergei was such a great person.” Representing present-day skaters were
World and Olympic medalist Patrick Chan, Olympic champion David Pelletier, and World and Olympic champions Meryl Da- vis and Charlie White.
Te field of up-and-coming skaters
Scott Hamilton introduces his son Maxx. Father and son performed a short duet.
included Russian ice dancers Victoria Sin- itsina and Nikita Katsalapov, who skated to Chopin’s “Andante Spaniato in G Ma- jor” choreographed by Gordeeva’s longtime coach, Marina Zoueva. Canada’s 2015 pairs silver medalists
SKATING 19
Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moskov- itch had only been skating together since June 2014. Te duo performed their 2015- ’16 free skate to Rachmaninoff’s “Sympho- ny No. 2 in E Minor.” Daria Grinkova described growing up with her close friend, Israeli champion Dan- iel Samohin, who skated to “Swing Sweet Pussycat” by Te Atomic Fireballs. Samohin also paired up with the 2015 U.S. junior champion Andrew Torgashev for the tradi- tional Russian sailors’ dance, “Yablochko.” “We grow up. We grow old. And, the
Stars on Ice family has continued to grow,” said Hamilton as a 7-year-old with a frock of bright shiny hair stroked his way to cen- ter ice.
Te audience cheered as Maxx Hamil-
ton served up a charismatic surprise perfor- mance, including a few jumps and a brief duet with his dad — proving the apple didn’t fall too far from this family tree. Gordeeva’s youngest daughter, Elizave-
ta Kulik, helped round out a future genera- tion of skaters. She skated to “A Tousand Years” by Te Piano Guys, a number cho- reographed by her coach and father. “Tis show commemorates the passage
of time,” Wylie said. “We surrounded Katia then, so she could pick herself up and move on with her life.” Twenty years ago, Hamilton closed the original tribute to Sergei with a promise to Katia: “For as long as you need all of us, we’ll be there for you.” Two decades later, her fans and the skating community are still making good on that promise.
PHOTO BY AMY E. TUCKER
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