In the 1980s, all Soviet television viewers enthusiastically watched every performance of the "golden couple." These two skaters - Sergey Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva - impressed enthusiastic people not only with their skills on ice, but also with their personal relationships.
Sports childhood
Katya Gordeeva was born in Moscow in 1971, on May 28. Her father was a dancer, and her mother worked at TASS, so the family was well off. Four years later, the spouses had another daughter - Maria.
Parents gave Katerina to the Sports School of CSKA at the age of three. It was this step that determined her entire future fate. In 1981, young Ekaterina Gordeeva (photo shown below) met Sergey Grinkov at the rink. They trained each separately, but after a year they decided to pair them, since both jumps were rather weak in order to be single skaters. They were coached by Vladimir Zakharov. But a year later, a new coach Nadezhda Shevalovskaya and a choreographer began to deal with the young couple. After short training in 1983, this pair of young skaters took part in the World Cup and took sixth place.
Stunning victories began in 1984. This year, young skaters participated in the same international junior championship and won first place.
Unsuccessful performance
A few months later, in 1985, they went to a tournament in Canada, and the coach added to their program a new “triple salchow” jump for them. It was a difficult and rare trick at the time. Ekaterina Gordeeva could not resist and fell.
Further success
After an unsuccessful stunt, Katya did not give up and continued training and performances already with the new coach. He led the couple to victory. In 1986, at the championships of the USSR and Europe, Sergey and Katya received silver medals. But in the early spring of this year at the World Cup, they deserved first place. Ekaterina Gordeeva not only became a world champion, she was also the youngest among all who won before her. Now she and Sergey have become idols of Soviet viewers. Without making their fans wait long, in the winter of 1987 the couple did the incredible, something that no one had done before them. It was a “four-turn twist”, and the commentators did not even believe their eyes. Interestingly, after the performance ended, Katie had a pulse of more than 200 beats per minute. So the couple became champions of the USSR.
Year of testing
In late autumn 1987, Sergei and Katya, as usual, trained, but the unexpected happened. Raising her partner in support of the "star", the skater caught on a skate, and Katerina fell from a height of almost three meters on the ice. She hurt her head badly, getting a concussion. Sergey was very scared and, after his partner was able to train again, completely changed. Now he has become stronger and more reliable to hold his dear partner, he began to appreciate her, and the two skaters turned into a couple. The relations of young people have changed, they are now cherished each other.
Further career
The young skater Ekaterina Gordeeva with her partner in February 1988 at the Olympics received the "gold". In addition to the fact that the girl was successful in her favorite business, she was included in the lists of the most beautiful people in the world. Having taken more than one first place, this couple went to the theater on ice to Tatyana Tarasova.
Ekaterina Gordeeva: personal life and bitter losses
Sergey and Katya loved each other, so in 1991 the skaters decided to get married. They were married, promising each other to love always. It was the happiest and most successful couple. They always starred together. Catherine was radiant, because both in her career and in her personal life, everything worked out for her. In 1992, a young couple had a daughter, Daria. The family moved to America. Life turned out perfectly. In addition, in 1994, the skaters received another Olympic victory. But this happiness could not last long.
At the end of November 1995, the young family went to another training session, which took place in Lake Placid. Sergey suddenly felt ill. He was hospitalized, and he died in the hospital. He had a massive heart attack. Together with Katya, the whole world mourned the loss. She left a three-year-old daughter, Dasha, who was very similar to her father.
A year later, Ekaterina Gordeeva published the book “My Sergey …”, in which she described all the bright memories and her subsequent grief.
