But, friends, February 12, 2010 is upon us. And we're just barely halfway through the olympic recap/preview. So let's make a deal: I'll keep it concise if you charge ahead with me.
Deal. Here's what we've got so far:
1980 and Savchenko/Szolkowy (Germany)
1984 and Zhang/Zhang (China)
1988 and Dube/Davison (Canada)
1992 and McLaughlin/Brubaker (America)
1988 is where we left off with Sergei and Ekaterina. And it's where they thought they were done with the olympics. After the 1990 competitive season, they retired from amateur competition (yeah, right, I'll show them amateur).
Part of why they decided to retire from competition was because, in January of 1989, they became a couple couple. After he kissed her, Katia says, "I was braver with him, more giving, more secure. From this point on, I never paid attention to any other man, not ever again." Turning professional gave them time to work on their technique, heal Sergei's bad shoulder, and get married.
With all their free time after their April 1991 wedding, the two hopped on the road with Stars on Ice and quickly became besties with all the big names you might know in skating (you know, Scott Hamilton, Kurt Browning, Kristi Yamaguchi, Steven Cousins, Brian Boitano, Brian Orser, Katerina Witt, and the like).
Then, on tour in January of 1992, Katia found out she was pregnant:
"That night I still said nothing about the pregnancy to Sergei. He was out late with some of his friends, which upset me, of course, and the next morning I was still angry with him. I felt sick, and somehow we got into a silly argument. I don't remember what it was about, but my hormones must have been making me crazy, because I suddenly blurted out, 'I'm pregnant. I'm feeling bad, and you don't even care. You could have a baby, but I'm going to have an abortion now.' Sergei was shocked. 'Is it true? What are you talking about?' He forgot that I was mad at him, forgot the argument, forgot even the talk of an abortion. 'Why didn't you tell me before?' He was so excited, and kept holding me and kissing me. 'Why didn't you tell me, Katoosh?'"
(Katoosh is a more common name for Katia that Sergei used with her)
In 1993, after Daria was born, skating authorities (like haterade man) made the unprecedented decision to let professionals reinstate into amateur competition. Brian Boitano led the pack to reinstatement, as Victor Petrenko, Katerina Witt, and Sergei and Katia followed.
With the help of their choreographer Marina Zueva, Sergei and Katia began training for the 1994 Lillehammer games:
"Marina told us that since Daria's brith, we had become more beautiful as pairs skaters, more professional, with a deeper understanding of each other. She said we fit together better, that our lines were cleaner. Performing every night in the shows had taught us how to express our feelings to the audience, to skate the program as a whole rather than simply going from element to element. 'You're doing everything I told you so perfect. It's almost like you were preparing your whole career for this program,' she said one day."
And this is that program, The Moonlight Sonata:
"This gold medal in 1994 satisfied me in a way no other medal I'd won ever had, even though we had made this one mistake (Sergei bobbles the double flip). I knew how hard we'd worked and how well we'd skated the whole year. I knew how much we'd sacrificed personally, spending that time away from Daria. And I was satisfied it had been worth it. The first gold medal we had won for the Soviet Union. This one we won for each other."
Sergei and Katia reunited with Daria and skated with Stars on Ice during 1994-1995...
...and won their 3rd World Professional Championship (the olympics of professional skaters).
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