ELENA VALOVA
By Lou Parees. "Blades on Ice" October 2000
"That is what holds
skating together," enthused Elena Valova, "the handing down of knowledge
from
one group of athletes to another."
As an amateur,
Valova, along with partner Oleg Vasiliev, claimed three World titles and
the 1984 Olympic gold medal.
"Tamara taught us
more than just about our sport," said Valova, referring to her coach,
Tamara Moskvina. "We were always together training so she became like
our second mother. I will always be grateful for what she passed on to
us both on and off the ice." Valova and Moskvina still speak regularly
on the phone, having seen each other in St. Petersburg last January.
"Elena was much more
to me than just a skating pupil," recalled Moskvina, speaking from her
Hackensack, New Jersey base of operations. "Coaching is more than just
trying to improve scores. It becomes a lifelong bond."
Moskvina began
coaching Valova and Vasiliev in St. Petersburg in 1978, during a time
when Soviet pairs had won 25 World Championships in 28 years.
"Following Irina
Rodnina's ten world titles, I felt all this pressure to continue the
tradition," Valova said. "At our first Soviet Championships, I was so
nervous my arms were literally trembling when we were introduced. That
is not exactly what your partner needs to feel at the start of a major
championship. When we finished our routine, I swore I would never show
fear on the ice again." Valova made good on her promise.
"Elena became
extremely mentally tough, rock solid," Moskvina proudly stated. "The
more the pressure, the tougher she got."
Her toughness was
pushed to the limit during the 1988 season. Valova was hospitalized for
a month with a severe ankle injury and began skating again only a month
prior to the Calgary Games. "Looking back, I don't know how I got ready
for the Olympics in one month," Valova said. "The pain was terrible and
I just began getting my jumps back when we left for Calgary." "Three
days before the competition, she tried her first triple jump," said
Moskvina. "Not landing, just trying the jump. Then she goes out and
lands a triple in the Olympics." Valova and Vasiliev finished second to
Gordeeva and Grinkov in Calgary, but recouped their loss a few months
later, claiming the World title in Budapest. "The 1988 World
Championships was going to be our last Olympic-eligible event," Valova
said. "We won our first World Championship in Helsinki in 1983 and we
were determined to go out on top. By that time my ankle was feeling
better and we peaked at Worlds."
A Professional
Career
Following their win,
Valova and Vasiliev, who married shortly after the 1984 Olympics, toured
professionally until 1995, although they divorced in 1992. The duo came
back to perform twice more in November 1996, six months after the birth
of Valova's only child.
"Many people did not
believe we were divorced," she said. "We still had that passion on the
ice. Before the marriage, we were very good friends and we still are
very good friends today." In her 19-year career as a pair skater,
Valova's only partner has been Vasiliev. Vasiliev currently lives in
Chicago where he has taught skating for the past few years. He is
remarried and has a daughter. Valova, meanwhile, trains skaters in
suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She moved there in late 1998, shortly
after the Island Sports Center complex opened, and enjoys the relatively
mild winters. She currently lives ten minutes from the rink with her
second husband, German, and their 4 year-old son Roman.
"Roman and German,
people ask me if I make these names up," she said. "In Russia these are
fairly common names, but in America people think of nationalities."
"I always liked
skating in America," Valova continued, "because the audience was much
more vocal than in Europe. In skating exhibitions, the Americans really
get into rock and roll music, which is only natural. You see Michael
Weiss standing on his head to rock music, and an American crowd goes
wild, while in Europe that may not happen." Her favorite place to skate,
however, was Japan, where she and Vasiliev won their second World title.
"The Japanese people really get into skating events," she said. "The
fans there are very knowledgeable about the sport and they appreciate
the elements, the programs, everything."
A New Place in the
Sport
Although her
competitive career is over, Valova still attends Stars on Ice and
Champions On Ice shows when they stop in Pittsburgh. She would like to
travel to see major championships, but her students come first. She
particularly likes seeing the skaters with whom she previously toured,
including Scott Hamilton and Katarina Witt, both fellow gold medallists
in Sarajevo. When talking about Moskvina's current top teams, Valova has
only praise.
In addition to
reigning Olympic champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, Valova
admires two-time World Champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.
"Both teams are
great and different," Valova offered enthusiastically. "Artur and Oksana
are powerful, emotional, and present very unusual elements. Artur is
extremely creative. He has a thousand other ideas that the public never
sees because he thinks either the elements are too risky or too
difficult for the crowd to understand." When Valova saw Kazakova and
Dmitriev on tour with Champions On Ice, she was taken aback by one of
their tricks: a move in which Dmitriev throws Kazakova into a double
jump, while holding her in front of him-off the ice. "I made Artur show
me how it works," Valova recalled. "We went out on the ice and he picked
me up and tossed me. It had more to do with centrifugal force than with
the strength of the man."
Valova continued, "I
love Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze's style. They have great speed across
the ice. She is a tiny girl, but on the ice she looks even lighter, like
a balloon."
And Valova's
accolades are not limited to teams who hail from the far side of the
Atlantic. Her favorite team to watch was Kitty and Peter Carruthers,
although she admits her admiration might be due to the fact they
competed during her era.
While the Soviets
ruled pairs skating in the '70s and '80s, Valova worried most about
North American teams. "The U.S. and Canadian teams were very powerful
and strong with great potential. They would light up the practice rink
but sometimes fall short in the competition. Maybe the training or
discipline was different from us." Valova currently trains about 15
students. In her coaching, she sees differences in costumes, facilities,
and also young skaters' attitudes about the sport. "Now children want
to do a little bit of everything," she said. "When I skated, it was all
about sacrificing. Everything was second to our training. Maybe that is
why so many Russian pairs got married. These were the only people we
ever saw. But it is not just in the States. I talk to coaches back in
Russia and they say the attitude has changed over there as well."
"My one fear in
coaching was putting a program to music," she revealed. "But it has
turned out to be the most enjoyable aspect. I give Tamara credit for
this because she let Oleg and me have input into the choreography, so we
would understand it better."
Valova often
incorporates European music into the routines, which has grown very
popular with her American students. Valova currently teaches pre-teens
and local competitors. Would she want the pressure of working with a
national contender? "Of course," she immediately replied. "Look, a
Russian saying is, 'A good soldier wants to become a general' I would
love to go back to the top, but for right now, I will try to move my new
generation of skaters forward." With these words, one of Valova's local
skaters, Leanne Zaccone, approached, ready for her lesson with the
Olympic champion. When asked if she would rather be doing something else
at this stage of her life, Valova answered, a resolute glint in her eye,
"I will die a skating coach." Indeed: this is what holds skating
together.
Photo by Kathy
Goedeken |
