“On thin ice”… Archetypes and details to re-define

Sergei Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva

They met in 1980 when a soviet coach paired them as ice-skating partners. They won almost all the competitions they entered and became gold champions in 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Their inevitable love affair has been announced in 1989 and a marriage followed in 1991. “However, tragedy struck in November of 1995, when Sergei Grinkov collapsed and died from a massive heart attack in Lake Placid, New York, while he and his wife were practicing for their upcoming performance in the 1995-1996 Stars on Ice tour. Doctors found that Sergei had severely clogged coronary arteries due to a heart disease.”




Maia Usova and Alexander Zhulin

I remember watching this program (which is unfortunately not on you tube yet), where Zhulin and Usova performed a choreography on a love song with a heart shaped balloon as a prop. The bitter comments of the BBC sports presenter alongside with her positive critics on the dance created a peculiar tension… For this precise competition they were performing together after separated (and before they both got other partners).
“Life, however, isn't quite as rosy for Maia Usova and Alexandr Zhulin. While residing in Lake Placid and training for the 1994 Olympics, "Sasha" Zhulin had an affair with another Russian skater, Oksana (later to be Pasha, then Oksana again) Grishuk . Though Usova & Zhulin stayed together long enough to win the Silver in Lillehammer (behind, of all people, Grishuk & Evgeny Platov), they divorced soon after.”