Sergei Grinkov
Chelley said she didn't know who Sergei Grinkov was, and that made me sad. I actually had been planning on doing a post on him eventually, but when she said that, I realized I had to do it right away.Sergei Grinkov was half of the greatest pairs figure skating team of all time, and easily the most handsome figure skater ever. He and his wife, Ekaterina (Katia) Gordeeva, won the gold medal at the Olymics in 1988 and 1994. It was said that when they skated, everyone else just skated for second. Scott Hamilton said of them, "They complemented each other with a beauty and elegance that no other team in the history of pairs skating had. They had every skating quality you could beg for. I see skating all the time. With them, I would always watch them. It was a privilege." Verne Lunquist stated, "They make adjectives irrelevant."
Sergei was a quiet man with a twinkle, who was hopelessly in love with his wife, and was an adorably doting father. When you watched Gordeeva and Grinkov skate, you hardly saw him - it was like he wanted to present her to the world to show everyone how beautiful she is. In any picture you see of him with their daughter Daria, he has the biggest grin possible (as does she).Katia described their life as a fairy tale. "He was so honest, and calm, and solid...He protected me; he loved me; he took care of me; he comforted me." They started skating together when he was 15 and she was 11. They were together on the ice when he died of a heart attack at age 28. And she was completely lost without him. "My Sergei: A Love Story," is her book. Very sad, and yet, of course, romantic.
He was great. They were great. I still miss them.
This is a profile on them:
This was their long program from the 1994 Olympics:
This was their final TV performance:
This was their final routine:
(The songs on these last two are so fittingly sad)
posted by melilotnfosco | 3:03 PM
19 Comments:
in case you're wondering why they didn't medal in 1992, it's because they didn't skate in the olympics that year - they were skating professionally
she just looks so incredibly safe in his arms
aww, that is sad -- and sweet (but i can't watch the videos yet b/c i'm at my mom's house & her dial-up drives me crazy; again, i don't know how you do it, mel!;) oh, & i'm sorry i made you so sad! :(
who just has a heart attack at only 28?? that's terrible!
it was shocking because, as an athlete, he was in great physical condition.
his dad died of a heart attack when he was in his 40s i believe, so it was in the family. you still don't expect it to happen at 28, though, which is why they had never thought to have him checked out or anything. a guy i went to school with in sweden had a heart attack at 25, but he bounced back just fine.
oh yeah, and kurt browning (speaking of a specific gordeeva & grinkov program in 1993 but i don't know what one) said that there was one flaw in their program: it was too short. he wished it would just go on forever.
they made everything look so effortless
What!!!!
Who had a heart attack???!!!
How did I not hear about that!
I have heard about quite a few athletes whom have had heart attacks- I knew a girl who died when she was 12. Something about hearts misfirering because of the chemicals due to all the exercise.
sergei grinkov, 1995
I thought I'd gotten over this, but I haven't. Now I'm crying again. :(
yeah I heard about him, I'm wondering which Bible School guy had one.
oh, i misunderstood. sorry, kim
i was wondering if you hadn't heard that, kim. i found out a year or more later (second- or third-hand). chad. why we didn't hear right away in some sort of prayer chain, i don't know. but he's fine now, from what i hear.
Oh my goodness! I hadn't heard! That's so sad and scary- and he wasn't even an athletic kind of guy.
i think you should take the 'arguably' out of the second paragraph
ok :)
they don't play enough of the last pocahontas song
(i just finally got to watch it cuz i'm at the library)
thanks for removing the 'arguably' :)
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