Ekaterina Gordeeva

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Olympic medalist
Gordeeva and partner, late husband Sergei Grinkov compete in 1994.
Medal record
Figure skating
Gold	1988 Calgary	Pairs
Gold	1994 Lillehammer	Pairs

Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Gordeeva (Russian: Екатерина Александровна Гордеева) (b. May 28, 1971) is a former Soviet Olympic and World figure skating champion.

Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Partnership and relationship with Sergei Grinkov 1.2 Solo career 2 Personal life 3 Competitive highlights 4 References 5 See Also 6 External links 7 Navigation

[edit] Biography

Ekaterina Gordeeva is perhaps best known as a pair skater. With her late husband and partner, Sergei Grinkov, she won the World Junior Championships, four senior World Championships, two Olympic gold medals and three World Professional Championship titles, along with many other medals and accolades. They are arguably the most influential, celebrated, and highly decorated pair team in the history of the sport. Many people consider them to be the greatest pair team ever to take the ice and are often referred to as "G&G". Gordeeva herself is also an accomplished solo skater, wife, mother, and bestselling author.

Gordeeva was born in Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia) to Alexsander Alexeyevich Gordeev and Elena Levovna Gordeeva. She has a younger sister named Maria Alexandrovna (b. 1975). Gordeeva began skating at the age of four, in skates many sizes too big (with special socks made for her by her beloved grandmother) because skates small enough for her feet were unavailable in the Soviet Union. Her father wanted her to be a dancer, but she wanted to skate and skate she did.

Gordeeva is often called "Katia". While there are alternate transliterations of her name into English, Gordeeva has consistently chosen to use "Ekaterina", "Katia" and "Gordeeva" for many years.

[edit] Partnership and relationship with Sergei Grinkov

At a time in Soviet Union history when athletic children were identified, sent to special schools, and given rigorous training in their sport, Gordeeva was chosen to train as a figure skater. She was not a particularly strong jumper, and at age ten she was paired with fourteen-year-old Sergei Grinkov at the Central Red Army Club (CSKA) in Moscow. They won the 1985 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The following year they won the first of their four World Figure Skating Championships. They successfully defended their World title in 1987 and then won gold at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

After a fall in their long program, they took silver at the World Championships in 1988, but they reclaimed the title in 1989 and 1990. They turned professional in the fall 1990, and won their first World Professional Championship in 1991. They also won that title in 1992 and 1994.

Gordeeva and Grinkov won almost every competition they entered. In the 31 competitions at the senior and professional levels, they finished first 24 times, and never lower than second. They are one of the few pair teams in history to successfully complete a quadruple twist lift in international competition. They landed the difficult element with ease at the 1987 World Championships. They also completed the element at the 1987 European Championships, but due to a problem with Grinkov's boot strap and a misunderstanding about the rules, they were disqualified from that event. They stopped performing the quad twist because it was not significantly improving their marks, making the added physical stress unnecessary.

By 1989, the skating partnership had blossomed into romance and the two were married in April 1991. Their state wedding was on April 20, and the church wedding was on April 28. From November through April 1992 they toured with Stars on Ice for the first time. On September 11, 1992 Katia gave birth to their daughter, Daria Sergeevna Grinkova, in Morristown, New Jersey. Shortly after Daria's birth, Katia recommenced training for the new season of Stars on Ice, which premiered in November 1992.

When a new ISU rule was announced allowing professional skaters to regain their eligibility, the pair decided to return to eligible competition for the 1993-94 season and skate in the Olympics. In 1994, Gordeeva & Grinkov won their second Olympic gold medal in Lillehammer, Oppland, Norway.

After the Olympics, they returned to professional skating and moved to Simsbury, Connecticut. During the 1994-95 season, they toured with Stars on Ice, this time as headliners. That year, Gordeeva was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine and that summer, Gordeeva and Grinkov were chosen for induction into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the pair planned to return to Stars on Ice for their fourth season with the tour.

On November 20, 1995 Grinkov collapsed and died at age 28 from a massive heart attack. The pair were on the ice in Lake Placid, New York while they were rehearsing for opening night of the upcoming tour. Doctors later discovered that Grinkov had a congenital heart condition which caused his death.

[edit] Solo career

In February 1996, Gordeeva returned to the ice, this time as a solo performer. Her first solo performance was a tribute to her late husband, skated to the 'Adagietto' section of Gustav Mahler's 'Symphony No. 5'. The number was publicly performed only twice, first at a preview performance at the Minto Skating Club in Ontario, Canada, and then on February 27, 1996, in a televised tribute to Grinkov, called "Celebration of a Life," in which numerous skating luminaries took part. Gordeeva has said that she felt as if she skated with Sergei that night, that she was "double strong" because she felt him with her. The same year, with the aid of author E. M. Swift, she told her story in a book titled My Sergei : A Love Story. In February 1998, CBS aired an eponymous docudrama based on the book. She published a second book in April, 1998, titled A Letter for Daria.

Gordeeva competed sucessfuly as a professional solo skater, finishing as high as second place at the World Professional Championships (in 1998). While she stopped competing in 2000, she continues to skate in professional skating tours, shows and competitions. She is beloved by her fans and is known for her elegance, grace and ethereal quality on the ice. While she has never returned to pair skating as a full-time endeavor, she has performed pair elements in many shows through the years with partners including Artur Dmitriev, Anton Sikharulidze, David Pelletier, and John Zimmerman. For the 1998-1999 season of Stars on Ice, she and fellow Russians Ilia Kulik, Elena Bechke, and Denis Petrov performed a quartet which showcased her pair skills, and in 1999-2000, she performed a pair duet with Kulik.

She has also signed several endorsement contracts, the most notable of which was with Target and led to two perfumes ("Katia" and "Katia Sport") which were sold through Target stores. Gordeeva and her daughter, Daria, appeared in the 1997 holiday movie "Snowden on Ice" and Gordeeva appeared in the 1998 sequel, "Snowden's Raggedy Ann and Andy Holiday Show". She has represented Rolex and also appeared with Daria in a "Got Milk?" ad. In 2001, she was the subject of a Lenox figurine called "Katia's Celebration of Life", which depicts her performing a layback spin in the tribute she skated for Grinkov. In 2003, she appeared on the ice for the first time with Daria. The pair performed a duet during a Mother's Day show and have taken the ice together several times since then.

[edit] Personal life

On June 15, 2001, Katia gave birth to her second daughter, Elizaveta Ilinichna Kulik(nicknamed 'Liza' (pronounced LEE-za), whose father is 1998 Winter Olympics men's gold medalist Ilia Kulik. The couple married in a private ceremony in San Francisco on June 10, 2002. They reside in Avon, Connecticut and train at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, Connecticut. Gordeeva, Kulik, Daria and Elizaveta made their first televised appearance as a family for Kristi Yamaguchi's Friends and Family in 2005. In addition to her skating, Gordeeva has ventured into the arenas of coaching and choreography. She also appeared in the 2003 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[1]

[edit] Competitive highlights

Pairing with Sergei Grinkov

Event/Season	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Winter Olympics	-	-	1st	-	-	-	DNC	-	1st
Soviet/Russian Championship	2nd	1st	-	-	-	-	-	-	1st
European Figure Skating Championships	2nd	wd	1st	-	1st	-	-	-	1st
World Championships	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	-	-	-	-
World Professional Championships	-	-	-	-	2nd	1st	1st	-	1st

[edit] References

• Gordeeva, Ekaterina. (1996). My Sergei: A Love Story. Warner Books Inc. ISBN 0-446-52087-X.

[edit] See Also

• Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov
• Ilia Kulik

[edit] External links

• Gordeeva and Grinkov Corner website
• A Kind of Magic: Ekaterina Gordeeva website

[edit] Navigation