U.S. ice dance champions Maia and Alex Shibutani reconnect with their childhood coaches, Susie Kelley and Andrew Stroukoff, at the 2016 U.S. Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Partners in life
’76 OLYMPIANS FIND JOY IN COACHING CAREERS by LOIS ELFMAN
When three-time U.S. ice dance medalists
Susie Kelley and Andrew Stroukoff attended the 40th anniversary reunion for skaters who competed at the 1976 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, their teammates were quite amused to find out that the former ice dance couple had been married for 28 years. “We had a team breakfast,” Kelley said.
“We went around the room to tell everyone what we’d been up to. People looked at us like, ‘You two got married?’ Tey were totally shocked we had gotten married in the first place and even more surprised we’re still married.” “We were both very intent people when
we skated and had no trouble expressing our points of view,” Stroukoff added. “We fought. Judi Genovesi (Whaling) said, ‘You learned to make up better than anyone else.’” It was a bit serendipitous that Kelley, 62,
and Stroukoff, 66, even teamed up. From the Boston area, Kelley had been ice dancing with her younger brother, but she temporarily out- grew him. She figured she’d sit out a year while he caught up to her. Around that time (1970), Stroukoff, who
grew up in New Jersey, went to Boston to at- tend college. He suggested to Kelley they skate together for the year, and the rest is history. When they started, their coaches in Boston included Leona Cooke, Barret Brown, Tom McGinnis and Tom Lescinski. Eventually, they relocated to Delaware to train with Ron Lud- ington. Part of the group affectionately known as the “midnight skaters,” they trained at the Skating Club of Wilmington from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
“It was the best,” Kelley recalled. All the skaters lived in close proximity and
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it was a familylike atmosphere. In those days, it was forbidden to coach and compete, so they did odd jobs to get by. Kelley cleaned houses and worked in the office at the rink. Back when video cameras were new, Stroukoff learned how to operate one and videotaped skaters for Lud- ington’s review. Participating in the 1976 Olympics was
an unexpected thrill, because they went into the U.S. Championships projected to finish fourth. Although the early start of the com- pulsory dances kept them from attending the Opening Ceremony, the overall experience was a blast.
“Te level of excitement was wonderful,”
Stroukoff said. Te U.S. Olympic Team did some appear-
ances in New York City before departing for Europe. After the Games, they stayed in Eu- rope to prepare for the World Championships. Tey were in Germany, Austria, Finland and Sweden over the course of two months. “What’s not to like?” Kelley said with a
laugh. “It was a great time.” A favorite competitive moment in their
career was their free dance at the 1977 World Championships in Tokyo, where they finished 12th.
“You hear about being in the moment, in
the zone, that you don’t remember anything about it afterward,” Stroukoff said. “We skated really well in the free dance and it just flowed. It didn’t take any conscious thought. At the end, I really had no recollection of it, which is odd because this is one of the things that Susie and I were good at — thinking while we were moving. To be able to make that leap is one of my favorite moments.”
Tey still have their costumes, medals,
trophies and pins, but sadly no videotape of their performances because they skated before the days of VCRs. Stroukoff had a necklace made for Kelley out of her Radix pins, and an- other one of the Olympic rings. After finishing third at the 1978 U.S.
Championships, they called it a day on their competitive career and went into coaching. Tey moved to New Jersey, where they still enjoy the grassroots of the sport, coaching at Mennen Arena in Morristown for the past 32 years (2.8 miles from home). In addition to ice dance, they work on moves in the field, edge work and low-level freestyle. Among the teams with which Kelley and
Stroukoff worked were a young Maia and Alex Shibutani. Te siblings were living in Con-
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