The famous athlete was born in the small town of Nevinnomyssk in southern Russia, becoming his biggest celebrity.
Elena Berezhnaya. Biography
The girl was born tiny, and her mother really wanted to give her to the sport. But the child was not taken anywhere - it seemed too weak and petty. So they didn’t take ballet and dancing, but at the age of 4 they took to the figure skating section. The girl liked to study there from the very beginning, even the rudeness and assault of coach Nina Ivanovna Ruchkina did not interfere. Elena Berezhnaya, whose biography is full of various events, never complained to her parents about her coach. Only once her stepfather saw bruises, and after his conversation with Nina Ivanovna she stopped touching the girl. At that time, cruel treatment of children in sports was the norm, and coaches did not hesitate to use force or put pressure on young athletes psychologically.
Paired with Oleg Shlyakhov
At 13, the girl went to train in Moscow. At first, she trained together with her son Ruchkina, but then Oleg Shlyakhov became her partner - the hope of Russian figure skating. He came to Moscow from Riga after his seventh partner threw him. He was a very rude partner, no one could do anything to him and not influence in any way. He could easily hit a girl, justifying himself by the fact that she “works poorly”. The skater herself admitted more than once that the beatings had become a normal occurrence in her life, and it had never occurred to her that anything could be changed.
Elena Berezhnaya and Oleg Shlyakhov showed good results in the competition, so the coaches stopped interfering and did not seem to notice Shlyakhov's bullying. After a while, the couple went to train in Latvia, to Oleg’s homeland. For a whole year they did not have a coach - no one undertook, knowing the bad character of the partner. But, despite the bad relations between themselves, the couple showed brilliant results and became the leader of the Latvian team, conquering new heights.
Working with a Gold Couples Trainer
In 1994, Tatyana Nikolaevna Moskvina noticed the children and offered to work together in St. Petersburg. They moved to her in 1995, and then the athlete’s life changed. Elena Berezhnaya, whose biography was not rich in good relations, made many friends. A different atmosphere reigned here - the athletes were friendly, kinder to each other. As in any sport, each athlete had nerves and worries, but Oleg’s behavior surprised everyone here, many were surprised at Berezhnaya’s patience. Here, under the supervision of psychologists, he controlled himself and at least did not beat his partner. But as serious competitions approached, Shlyakhov became himself and was no longer embarrassed to behave in the old way. The local athletes, with whom Elena made friends, sympathized with the girl and tried to help her.
Acquaintance with Anton Sikharulidze
Among the friends of the future champion was Anton Sikharulidze. At that time, the athlete was riding with Maria Petrova. He and his friends defended Berezhnaya from a crazy partner, but for a long time this did not help. After meeting the guys arose sympathy, but they hid their relationship in order to avoid problems with couples. But Shlyakhov still recognized. Soon the European Championship was to take place, and Oleg decided to prepare for it in Riga. The couple was supposed to spend there only three weeks.
Even then, Elena Berezhnaya understood that her relationship with a partner is bad and their
it’s time to finish, but couldn’t so easily disrupt the performance at the Championship for which they were preparing. She decided that after him he would leave Oleg, and her coach Moskvina completely agreed with her. She generally long ago persuaded her to leave the couple, because her own life is more important.
New life after an injury
Despite all her bad premonitions and feelings, the girl, gritting her teeth, endured training in Riga. Here she was herself, and Shlyakhov could freely take out all her anger on her.
A week before the Championship, a terrible event occurred in the athlete's life: in the morning training Oleg Shlyakhov injured his partner - he inflicted a severe head injury on the blade of his own skate. As a result of a technical error of the partner, the temporal part was broken and the shell of the brain was damaged, and the speech center was damaged. Two neurosurgical operations were performed, after which the athlete learned to walk and talk again. Elena Berezhnaya, whose injury was very severe, remained in the hospital for a long time. Five days after the tragedy, Lenin's mother and Tatyana Moskvina were able to fly to Riga. Mom was with her daughter every day while she was recovering.
Elena Berezhnaya, the fall on ice for which was the last straw in a duet with Shlyakhov, was forced to deal exclusively with her own health. A month after the injury, 19-year-old Anton Sikharulidze came to the girl. It was he who supported and helped the girl recover after the fall. Thanks to his care, she again learned to speak and move. They left Riga together.
Courage athlete
Most doctors advised forgetting about figure skating, but one of them said: "The faster you start doing the same thing that you did before the injury, the faster you will recover." At that time, the girl was 18 years old, Anton left his coach, and they just started skating together, Elena recalled her previous skills.
All this time Anton’s parents helped the children - Elena Berezhnaya lived in their family until she was able to buy her own apartment.
They did not immediately think about working in pairs, but over time, both of them had such a desire. The trainer of the new pair was Tatyana Moskvina. And so the duet came about, which not only could become the owner of Olympic gold, but also win the love of spectators around the world. Elena Berezhnaya, whose head injury did not cease to make itself felt, began to prepare for serious competitions with her partner.
Elena and Anton Sikharulidze in big sport
After six months of hard work, the couple was able to become third at the European Championships.
In 1998, they managed to become the silver medalists of
the Nagano Olympics, and in 2002 they won Olympic gold in Salt Lake City.
In 1998 and 1999, they became gold medalists in the World Figure Skating Championships, and in 2001 became second. In 1998 and 2001 they became European Champions, in 1997 they became bronze medalists of the Paris Championship.
On their account four victories in the Championship of Russia - they took gold 4 years in a row, from 1999 to 2002.
Fans of the couple loved their performances for the technical complexity and perfection of performance, for the romance and beauty of the compositions. Millions of figure skating fans conquered and enchanted with their tenderness. The work of this couple in many ways helped to determine the appearance of figure skating in pairs at the beginning of the twentieth century.
After 2002, the guys turned into professionals and began working in the Stars on Ice project - not one of them wanted to refuse such an interesting offer. From 2002 to 2006, the skaters toured America, they skated hundreds of programs around the world. The couple lived in America, sorties to Russia were rare, but they were - Elena Berezhnaya and Anton missed their homes, friends, relatives. Under the contract, they could leave the country only when they had five free days at their disposal. But every New Year, no matter what, at least for a short while, they drove home, and immediately after the holiday - back.
Elena Berezhnaya: personal life
During a joint work on the Stars on Ice show, the romantic relationship between partners on ice ended. According to the athlete herself, they did not begin to love each other less, on the contrary, over the entire time they met, young people became relatives to each other. Almost a brother and a sister. And so it was decided to leave.
In 2006, athletes announced that they were leaving a big sport. After that, Elena performed a lot in various ice projects on television, her partners were famous artists - Dima Bilan, Mikhail Galustyan, Igor Ugolnikov and others.
At this time, Elena Berezhnaya was already familiar with her future husband - Stephen Cousins. And she was familiar for two whole years! They worked together on the same show, but were just friends. After the end of the tour, all the athletes went home, and in the summer Elena was invited to Canada. Already there, he and Stephen got to know each other better, and it turned out that they had many common interests, there was something to talk about.
After the trip, the girl invited the hospitable Canadian to her home in St. Petersburg to look at the white nights. So gradually they recognized each other and became a couple. At the time of his acquaintance, Stephen was still married, divorced while already being with Elena.
Elena's family
Each of them lived in several countries at once, flew on planes to visit each other. In 2007, their son Tristan was born, in 2009 - their daughter Sofia. With her husband, they continue to live in several countries, and this suits them: he is in Canada, she is in Russia. The athlete claims that only after meeting with her husband she has now become a truly happy and whole person!