Figure skater Elena Berezhnaya - Honored Master of Sports of Russia

The famous sportswoman was born in the small town of Nevinnomyssk in the south of Russia, becoming his biggest celebrity.

Elena Berezhnaya. Biography

The girl was born a tiny one, and my mother really wanted to give her to the sport. But the child was not taken anywhere - it seemed too weak and shallow. So they did not take the dance to the ballet, but at the age of 4 they took to the figure skating section. She liked to work there from the very beginning, even rudeness and assault by 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, without hesitation, used force or pressure on young athletes psychologically.

Together with Oleg Shlyakhov

At age 13 the girl went to train in Moscow. At first, she trained with her son Ruchkina, but then her partner was Oleg Shlyakhov - the hope of domestic figure skating. He came to Moscow from Riga after he was thrown by the seventh partner. Partner, he was very rude, no one could do anything to him and no influence. He could easily hit the girl, justifying himself that she "does not work well". She herself admitted more than once that beatings had become normal in her life, and she had never even thought of changing anything.

Elena Berezhnaya and Oleg Shlyakhov showed good results at the competitions, so the coaches stopped interfering and did not seem to notice Shlyahov's bullying. After a while, the couple left to train in Latvia, Oleg's homeland. For a whole year they did not have a coach - no one took it, knowing the bad character of the partner. But, despite the bad relations between each other, the pair showed brilliant results and became the leader of the Latvian team, conquering new heights.

Work with the coach of the "golden couple"

In 1994, Tatyana Nikolayevna Moskvina noticed the children and suggested working together in St. Petersburg. They moved to her in 1995, and here the life of the athlete has changed. Elena Berezhnaya, whose biography was not rich in good relations, acquired many friends. There was a whole other atmosphere here - the athletes were friendly, kinder to each other. As in any sport, every athlete had nerves and emotions, but Oleg's behavior surprised everyone here, Berezhnoy's patience was surprised. Here, being under the supervision of psychologists, he kept himself in hand and at least did not beat his partner. But as the serious competitions approached, Shliakhov became himself and no longer hesitated to behave in the old way. The local athletes, with whom Elena became friends, sympathized with the girl and tried to help her.

Acquaintance with Anton Sikharulidze

Among the friends of the future champion was and Anton Sikharulidze. At that time, the athlete skated with Maria Petrova. He and his friends defended Berezhnaya from a crazy partner, but for a long time it did not help. After acquaintance between the guys there was sympathy, but they concealed their relationship in order to avoid problems with couples. But Shliakhov still found out. Soon the European Championships were due, and Oleg decided to prepare for him in Riga. The couple had to spend there only three weeks.

Even then, Elena Berezhnaya understood that she had bad relations with her partner and their It's time to finish, but could not so easily break the performance at the Championship, to which they were preparing. She decided that after him he would leave Oleg, and her coach, Moskvina, fully agreed with her. She generally long ago persuaded her to leave the pair, because her own life is more important.

New life after trauma

Despite all her bad feelings and feelings, the girl, gritting her teeth, endured training in Riga. Here she was herself, and Shlyakhov could freely sweep away all his anger on her.

A week before the Championship there was a terrible event in the life of the sportswoman: in the morning training Oleg Shlyakhov injured his partner - he inflicted a severe craniocerebral injury with the blade of his own skate. As a result of the technical mistake of the partner, the temporal part was broken and the brain envelope was damaged, the speech center suffered. Two neurosurgical operations were performed, after which the athlete learned to walk and talk anew. Elena Berezhnaya, whose injury was very difficult, remained in the hospital for a long time. Five days after the tragedy, my mother and Tatyana Moskvina were able to fly to Riga. Mom was with her daughter every day, while she came to herself.

Elena Berezhnaya, the fall on the ice for which was the last straw in the duet with Shlyahov, was forced to deal exclusively with her own health. A month after the injury to the girl came 19-year-old Anton Sikharulidze. It was he who supported and helped the girl recover after the fall. Thanks to his care, she again learned to speak and move. From Riga they left together.

Courage of the sportswoman

Most doctors advised you to forget about figure skating, but one of them said: "The faster you start doing the same thing that you were doing before the injury, the faster you will recover." At that time, the girl was 18 years old, Anton left his coach, and they just went riding together, Elena recalled her previous skills.

All this time the children were helped by Anton's parents - Elena Berezhnaya lived in their family until she could buy her own apartment.

About how to work in pairs, they did not think about right away, but over time, such a desire appeared in both. The coach of the new pair was Tatyana Moskvina. That's how the duo arose, which not only could become the owner of Olympic gold, but also win the love of viewers around the world. Elena Berezhnaya, whose head trauma did not cease to make itself felt, together with her partner began to prepare for serious competitions.

Elena and Anton Sikharulidze in big sport

After six months of hard work, the pair was able to become the third at the European Championship.

In 1998, they managed to become silver medal winners at the Nagano Olympics, and in 2002 they won Olympic gold in Salt Lake City.

In 1998 and 1999 they became gold medalists of the World Figure Skating Championships, and in 2001 they became the second. In 1998 and 2001, they became Champions of Europe, in 1997 they became bronze medalists of the Paris Championship.

On their account four wins in the Russian Championship - gold they took for 4 consecutive years, from 1999 to 2002.

Fans of the couple loved their performances for the technical complexity and perfection of performance, for the romantic and beautiful compositions. Their numbers were conquered and fascinated by their tenderness, millions of fans of figure skating. The work of this pair helped in many ways to determine the appearance of figure skating in pairs in the early twentieth century.

After 2002, the guys switched to professionals and began to work in the project "Stars on Ice" - none of them did not want to give up such an interesting proposal. From 2002 to 2006 skaters went on tour in America, they rolled back hundreds of programs around the world. The couple lived in America, forays into Russia were rare, but they were - Elena Berezhnaya and Anton missed home, friends, relatives. Under contract, they could leave the country only when they had five free days at their disposal. But every New Year, no matter what, for a little while, but went home, and right after the holiday - back.

Elena Berezhnaya: personal life

During the joint work in the show "Stars on Ice", the romantic relationship between the partners on the ice ended. As the sportswoman herself tells, they did not love each other any less, on the contrary, for all time of their acquaintance, young people became each other's native people. Practically brother and sister. And so it was decided to part.

In 2006, athletes announced that they were leaving the 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 it was already familiar for two whole years! They worked together in one show, but they 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 more closely, and it turned out that they have many common interests, there is much to talk about.

After the trip, the girl invited the hospitable Canadian to come to Petersburg to see the white nights. So gradually they recognized each other and became a couple. At the time of his acquaintance, Stephen was still married, divorced already with Elena.

Elena's family

Each of them lived at once in several countries, flew to each other on planes. In 2007, they had a son, Tristan, in 2009 - daughter Sofia. With her husband, they continue to live in several countries, and they are satisfied with it: he is in Canada, she is in Russia. The sportswoman claims that only after the meeting with her husband she has now become a truly happy and whole person!