Olga Mityaeva, GBOU school № 411 «Harmony», Saint-Petersburg

Elena is a famous Russian pair skater.

Together with her partner Anton

Sikharulidze, she won the 1998 and

1999 World Championship, the silver

Olympic medal in 1998 and became

the Olympic Champion in 2002.

Elena was born on October, 20th,

1977, in a small town of Nevinnomisk, in the

south of Russia.

She began skating at the age of 4,

when her mum brought her to the ice-skating

ring. Form a very early age she showed

everyone that she was very talented. At the

age of 13 Elena moved to Moscow where

Oleg Shlyakhov became her partner. They

were a very promising young pair but the

relations were difficult as Oleg was bad-

tempered and savage.

It was a very difficult period for

Elena as her partner was really rude with her.

If she made a mistake he began shouting and

even could hit her. Elena’s friends tried to

protect her.

Oleg made up a decision to leave

Russia and move to Riga, Latvia.

They continued to train together and to

participate in different competitions. And once

Tamara Moskvina, one of the greatest coaches

ever, noticed them and invited to work in

Saint-Petersburg. So in 1995 Elena and Oleg

moved to the Northern Capital.

In Saint-Petersburg Elena met Anton

Sikharulidze, the 1994 and 1995 World Junior champion

with Maria Petrova. Quite soon they became good

friends.

On January 9, 1996, Berezhnaya was

seriously injured when Shliakhov's blade sliced into her

skull while the pair were practicing in Riga. Two

surgical operations were performed to remove bone

fragments from her brain. Doctors were unsure if she

would walk again.

Anton immediately left everything and

came to Riga. After the operation he brought Elena back

to Saint-Petersburg and surrounded her with love. After

the injury Elena couldn’t speak or walk. But Berezhnaya

wished to return to the ice and doctors agreed and three

months later she came to the ice skating ring. She began

skating carefully with Anton's help. When Elena

recovered, they started skating as a pair. They asked

Tamara Moskvina to be their coach.

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were brilliant skaters, they were real champions.

Together Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won 27 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze medals, all in all 41 medals.

1997 - silver medal at the Russian Nationals1997-bronze medal at the European Championship. 1998 - silver medal at the Russian Nationals1998 - gold medal at the European Championship1998 - gold medal at the World Championship1998 - gold medal at the Good Will Games1998 – silver medal at the Olympic Games1999 - gold medal at the Russian Nationals1999 - gold medal at the European Championship1999 - gold medal at the World Championship2000 - gold medal at the Russian Nationals2000 - gold medal at the European Championship2001 - gold medal at the Russian Nationals2001 - gold medal at the European Championship2001 - silver medal at the World Championship2001 - gold medal at the Good Will Games2002 - gold medal at the Russian Nationals2002 – gold medal at the Olympic Games.

In May 2003, Berezhnaya and

Sikharulidze left competitive skating. From 2002–

2006, they toured with Stars on Ice. In 2006,

Berezhnaya took part in ice show Stars on Ice,then

In 2008, she participated in Star Ice and in many

other shows. In late 2010 and early 2011,

Berezhnaya played the White Queen in an Alice in

Wonderland ice show in St. Petersburg and

Moscow, alongside Alexei Yagudin and Tatiana

Totmianinaand Maxim Marinin.

Today Elena is married. Her

husband is an English skater Steven Cousins.

They have two children, a son Tristan and a

daughter Sofia Diana.

Elena Berezhnaya is a great skater

our city is proud of and she has proved that a

person is much stronger that he or she looks like.