The Heroines of Nagano

Never mind that Russia failed to repeat its Lillehammer success, finishing third in total number of medals received. After all, Russia’s Olympic team won nine gold medals, exceeding the prediction of seven made by Vitaly Smirnov, chairman of Russia’s National Olympic Committee. And it is admirable that a country where sports have been abandoned to the mercy of fate can still line up world-class athletes who perform no worse than their Soviet predecessors.

Female athletes, that is. For it was the women, winning eight of the nine gold medals, who saved Russia’s honor. And even though Russia’s NHL millionaires surprised fans by their cohesiveness and team spirit on the ice, they still could not beat the Czechs in the final. And, while President Boris Yeltsin’s, appellation of the women athletes as “the queens of the 18th Olympic Games,” might be hyperbole, most Russians seem to agree with the president that the women’s eight gold medals were “a great gift to Russia’s men on the eve of a national holiday” (February 23: Day of the Fatherland’s Defenders).

Cinderella from Odintsovo

The story of Larisa Lazutina, 32, heroine of female cross-country skiing, is the Cinderella-like success story of a self-made champion who valued her talents highly enough to fly in the face of official sports tradition. Against huge odds, Lazutina, born in Kondapoga (Karelia), grabbed five Olympic medals in Nagano: 3 gold (for the 5 km sprint, 10 km pursuit race and 4x5 km relay race), one silver (15 km) and one bronze (30 km). And yet, less than a year ago, after her disastrous performance at the 1997 World Championships in Trondheim (Norway), Lazutina said she thought of quitting and settling down as a housewife in her little town of Odintsovo (Moscow region), where she lives with husband Gennady and daughter Alisa (who predicted her mom would only win the silver).

However, after the disqualification of Russian team leader Lyubov Yegorova last year for a failed drug test, Russia’s Ski Federation invited Lazutina to join the team. She agreed, on one condition. That she be allowed to train alone. And so, Lazutina trained for the Olympics independently, which cut her off from the financial support enjoyed by the national team. Lazutina has a long history of personal differences with the team’s head coach Alexander Grushin (“we can’t work together, put it down to my bad attitude”). Later, she would remark that it was this “bad attitude” that helped her win in Japan.

Lazutina found a New Russian tycoon as a sponsor and hired a personal coach, Alexander Kravtsov, together with her husband Gennady, also a former professional skier, trained her. Said Kravtsov, “... we decided to switch Larisa over to individual training – she just doesn’t feel at ease playing secondary roles on the national team.” If, before the Olympics, she modestly stated that any medal would be enough for her, during the games she was visibly disappointed after her second-place finish in the 10 km race. But then she took the 5 km sprint by storm, winning her first individual gold. Millions of ski fans saw her burst into tears after the race. “I have been waiting for this medal for too long,” she cried. The rest, as they say, is history.

The sponsor’s investment must have paid back. Russian journalists have already added up Lazutina’s Olympic earnings. The Russian government pays each athlete $50,000 for a gold medal, $20,000 for a silver and $10,000 for a bronze. Plus, the National Olympic Committee pays another $50,000 for an athlete’s first gold medal. The mighty ONEXIMBANK hands out an extra $50,000 to gold medalists from the Central Army Club. By this reckoning alone, Lazutina earned $280,000 for her Olympic performance. Moreover, according to Marc Sokol of the Russian Federal Tax Service, Olympic athletes will be exempted from tax payments on their prize money. Other perks? In a hiccup from Soviet sports history, when athletes combined their jobs with officers’ ranks, Lazutina was promoted to the rank of lieutenant by personal order from her superior – Defense Minister Igor Sergeev – “for outstanding successes in sport.” Lazutina’s official job is “coach of the 127th club of Russia’s strategic rocket forces.”

God only knows what Russia’s overall medal ranking would be, had Lazutina kept her promise to quit.

A Victory for Working Mothers

Lazutina’s friend and roommate, 27-year old Olga Danilova, from the town of Alexandrov (Vladimir region), will be remembered, among other things, for winning Russia’s very first medal in Nagano, for the 15k cross-country race. This medal also happened to be Russia’s 100th gold in Winter Olympic events.

Danilova met her husband, Vladimir Torchinsky, on the ski track when he was 11 and she was 12. They fell in love in 1988 when the two were skiing for the USSR national team and got married two years later. Husband and wife see each other no more than three months out of the year; the rest is “eaten up” by practices. The couple had to wait six years before their dream of having kids came true (they had to get the go-ahead from coach Alexander Grushin). The year 1996 was relatively calm, Nagano was still two years down the road, so Grushin said: “Go for it!” After giving birth to twin boys (Semyon and Savely) and missing the entire 1996 season, Danilova’s victory represented an impressive comeback. Raved the New York Times, “Olga Danilova’s gold medal is a victory for all working mothers on the planet.”

At the age of 19, Danilova won a gold at the World Youth Championships. And from then on, she has been included on Russia’s relay team. In 1995, she made her debut at the World Championships, and her relay team took first place.

As her husband Vladimir recalled: “She had already experienced what Olympic fever means in 1992, when she was included on the Olympic team in Albertville. And accompanying her to Nagano, for some reason I was sure that this time something resembling a miracle would occur. But in no way did I expect that we would see this on the very first day of competition. Obviously, some kind of turning point had occurred in Olga’s character ...”

After her victory, Danilova received a congratulatory telegram from the State Council of Tatarstan (where she was born). And the first reaction from the mayor of Alexandrov (of which she is an honorary citizen) was to award Danilova a R60 mn ($10,000) check from the city budget. She and her husband said they intended to spend the money on a furniture set, as their new house is still empty. When they called a Finnish furniture dealer, the ski-mad Finns offered them a huge discount (no doubt, the dealer will be thrilled to advertise that “Olympic Champion Olga Danilova bought furniture here!”). For now, Danilova plans to pursue her skiing career, but when she quits, tax evaders beware. Olga’s official job is with the Tax Police. She will surely be fast enough to catch perpetrators. Just ask her rivals in Nagano ...

The Future of Women’s Cross-Country

Yulia Chepalova, 21, from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, won the difficult, 30 km race in the pouring rain, dashing the hopes of Italy’s legendary Olympic veteran Stefania Belmondo. Chepalova’s impressive skiing prompted her Italian rival to acknowledge: “Russian girls are way too strong.” With Chepalova’s victory, the Russian women’s domination of cross-country skiing was complete: they had won 5 gold medals out of 5.

Just like her teammate Lazutina, Chepalova trained apart from the team. Anatoly Chepalov, her father, acted as her coach. “Me and dad, we just get on so well with each other, so we just thought it would be much easier for us to work together,” Chepalova said. “Plus, there are way too many skiers for one coach on the national team, he just doesn’t have time for everyone.”

Chepalova was in tears when she was not selected to participate in the 4x5 km relay race. She also cried during the final meters of her 30 km victory, but this time from happiness. Actually, to win her first ever Olympic gold medal, Chepalova had to cover 40 km and not 30 km. To pick the fourth candidate on the Russian roster, the coaches organized a qualifying 10 km race, which Chepalova won by 40 seconds.

In order to help his daughter pursue her sports career, Chepalovaís father Anatoly reportedly sold all his belongings and assets, including a second-hand car. Perhaps Chepalova will now return the favor by buying her dad a nice car out of her Olympic prize money. But the Chepalov’s biggest bonanza will be an apartment from Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. They currently live in a 2-room apartment which her sports club, Dinamo, temporarily secured for her. Luzhkov, who attended the Olympics in Nagano, promised, even before Chepalova won her race, to help her out with lodging. Now that she has returned to Moscow with a gold medal, it will be tough for the mayor not to keep his word.

After her recent success, the up-and-coming star will be very much in the spotlight. With both Lazutina and Vyalbe retiring at the end of this season, Chepalova will be one of Russia’s biggest hopes in the next Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. “She is the next big star on our team,” Lazutina said. “The future belongs to her.”

Small Consolation

When Russia’s women won the 4x5 km relay race, they swept Olympic gold in cross-country skiing. In the relay, Lazutina and Chepalova were joined by veteran Nina Gavrilyuk and Russia’s biggest disappointment in Nagano Yelena Vyalbe [who also graced the cover of Russian Life’s Olympic issue in February]. After winning all five gold medals at last year’s World Championships, Vyalbe failed to win a single individual gold medal in Nagano. “Life is like a zebra,” Vyalbe said, “light stripes are followed by dark ones – so this is my dark stripe.” And yet, one must give Yelena her due. It was she who gave Russia a decisive lead over the Norwegians in the relay, thus sending Lazutina to her final 5 km stage with a more than 20-second lead. But this is probably little consolation for the legendary Vyalbe.

An Underdog Victory

In the biathlon, which to the uninitiated looks much like cross-country skiing, except that biathletes carry a rifle on their backs, Russia’s performance would have been written off as a total “disaster” (the men’s 4 x 7.5 km relay race brought only a frustrating bronze medal), were it not for 25-year old Galina Kukleva. Kukleva earned Russia an unexpected gold in the 7.5 km race by edging out German front-runner Ushi Disl (nicknamed “turbodiesel”) for the gold – just seven-tenths of a second separated the two athletes. She also helped her country win the silver medal in the 4 x 7.5 relay race. In 1994, Kukleva had been pre-selected for the national biathlon team, but never got an Olympic ticket to Lillehammer. “I was told you are still young, you can wait,” she said.

Kukleva grew up in the town of Ishimbay, Bashkiria, and four years ago moved to Tyumen, where she entered the faculty of physical culture at the local university. Her most devout fans are her family – her mother, a retired seamstress, her father, an oil worker, and her elder brother, a marine. After her victory, Kukleva said she could not believe she had made it to the Olympics at all, much less won a gold medal. “I didn’t expect, myself, to show such a result,” she said. “I had made way too many mistakes in shooting in the past ... A lot in biathlon depends on luck. I was lucky this time around.”

Lucky or not, Kukleva’s performance in Nagano defied her own modest assessment. After all, sports observers said that Kukleva’s victory was not that unexpected, as Kukleva was already ranked third in the world before the Olympics. A future sports coach by profession and a great cook by vocation, Kukleva’s favorite meal is ... pizza. Pizza with mushrooms, that is. Galya is also a devout mushroom picker.

Same Gold, New Partner

Their three gold medals the prestigious Olympic sport of ice skating was an unqualified success for the Russian Olympic team. This was the third consecutive games since the Soviet Union collapsed that at least three titles have gone to part of the former empire. In pairs skating, Russia won its 10th (!) consecutive gold medal since 1964, thanks to the skating of Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, while the silver went to yet another Russian pair Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. Interestingly, both pairs were trained in St. Petersburg by coach Tamara Moskvina. Eight years ago, Moskvina coached Dmitriev to victory in Albertville with his former partner Natalya Mishkutienok.

Now the 30-year old Dmitriev, whom the Associated Press called “the most majestic of all skaters,” has become the first man to win Olympic gold in pairs skating with two different partners. He and Mishkutienok came close to winning another gold in Lillehammer four years ago, but lost to the legendary husband and wife team of Yekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov (who later died after suffering a heart attack on the ice). In Nagano, the widowed Gordeeva was the first to congratulate the new champions.

Four years ago, after his loss in Lillehammer, Dmitriev said he did not want to quit “a loser.” So, when Mishkutienok quit skating, Dmitriev found Oksana Kazakova. “... When I risked teaming up with an inexperienced, young partner [there is a seven year age difference between them], I knew what I was going for. Before each practice, I said to myself: you are no longer an Olympic champion, you can’t do anything, so learn together with the girl. So, I have never put any pressure on her with my authority. All I could allow myself was a discreet: don’t you think this pirouette could be executed somewhat differently?”

Dmitriev’s discretion and lack of “stardom disease” apparently paid off. Kazakova, for one, believes her meeting with Dmitriev was a gift from fate. “When Artur turned his attention on me, I was also left without a partner.” Ice skating legend Alexander Gorshkov, the world’s first Olympic champion in ice dancing (1976), said Dmitriev’s greatest merit, even surpassing his impeccable skating, is his ability to instill confidence in his partner. “I had no jitters at all the day we won,” Dmitriev said about the free program. “I was shivering inside on the eve of our final performance, after the short program. But I realized Oksana was much more nervous, so it was up to me to calm her down ... I told her: we are fit and healthy, so it’s going to be all right.”

And it was. The couple performed a flawless routine to Handel’s Passocaglia, nailing side-by-side triple toe-loops quickly followed by double axles, and earning a perfect 6.0 mark and a five-minute standing ovation. After the performance, Dmitriev, who had never done more than kiss his partner’s hand, hugged Oksana warmly and thanked her for her skating. It was one of those moments the two champions will always remember ...

Pasha Goes to Hollywood

The colorful Pasha (formerly Oksana) Grishuk, 26, and her partner Yevgeny Platov, 31, owe their second Olympic triumph to coach Tatyana Tarasova, who helped them “dance into history.” In Nagano, the pair increased their streak of winning major ice dancing events to 22 and became the world’s first couple to defend a gold medal in subsequent Olympics. As the Associated Press put it: “The Russians almost always win Olympic ice dancing. Pasha Grishuk and Yevgeny Platov always win, wherever they skate.”

Earning two perfect marks, Grishuk and Platov edged out their elegant compatriots, silver-medal winners Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov. The former pair’s “Memorial” free program was an amazing display of speed and power, paying tribute to all athletes who died before their time. But even more impressive was the fact that Grishuk skated the program with a broken wrist. At the end of the performance, Grishuk, ever talkative and self-confident (she felt that she and Platov were “competing only with themselves”), broke down, covering her face and sobbing as the couple took their bows. Perhaps, along with the pain, she was feeling a burst of nostalgia. After years of amateur skating, the couple, who moved to America three years ago, will turn pro.

But, in general, Grishuk, the platinum blonde with her huge silver cross, purple skates and blue nail polish, seemed to be relishing the spotlight. No wonder. Her future plans include an acting career. “Hollywood agents found me themselves during a big tour of America,” she said. “They told me they have been watching our pair closely for many years and advised me to take up acting. Of course, I was flattered. If the professionals say so ... I realize I am no beauty – there are many girls around prettier than me, but since I’m the one they picked up on ... this adds confidence .” Grishuk reportedly recently turned down the chance to appear in a film with Robert de Niro, because shooting was to coincide with the Nagano Olympics.

Four years ago, “Pasha” Grishuk was Oksana. Now, only her mother uses the old name. Asked why the name change, Grishuk replied that she objected to being mixed up with the troubled Ukrainian Olympic champion Oksana Bayul, who earned herself a reputation in the US for drunk driving. Second, Grishuk thinks Pasha (her grandmother’s name), with its similarity to the word “passion,” has a nice ring to it.

For his part, Grishuk’s more humble partner, Zhenya Platov, is not nurturing any Hollywood hopes and prefers a low-profile continuation of his career: “I will not be an actor, that’s for sure. Maybe a coach or a choreographer, we’ll see.”

He Who Suffers ...

Were it not for 20-year old Ilya Kulik, the male contingent of Russia’s Olympic team would have left Nagano in disgrace, without a single gold medal (except for the shared medals in pairs figure skating, of course). Luckily, as the Associated Press put it, “no one was going to steal the show from Kulik,” even though Kulik faced the unenviable task of being the first skater to open the final competition among top contenders.

Just like Platov and Grishuk, Kulik prepared for the Olympics in the US, with coach Tatyana Tarasova. Kulik had switched from coach Viktor Kudryavtsev two years ago (he told the press in Nagano that Kudryavtsev did not have enough faith in his abilities). Yet, he ordered his tailored black and yellow suit in Moscow, paying equal attention to looks and practicality (“let’s assume that the suit also won,” he said). When asked about his state of mind before the performance, Kulik said, “From the very first day, the stress was terrible. I felt it everywhere – at practice, in the halls, in the country. It just floated in the air. I was very worried. So much so that I could not even fall asleep the day before the final, although before I always managed to shut out competitions at least for a couple of hours.” Neither his favorite writer, Somerset Maugham, nor detective stories could put him to sleep. But coach Tarasova said philosophically, “He who doesn’t suffer from insomnia never wins anything.”

As it turned out, there was no cause for alarm. Kulik’s impressive program, executed to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue , earned him 5.9 marks [out of 6.0] for artistry from all seven judges. A few seconds before his brilliant performance, he patted Tarasova on the back to reassure her. “I will make the quad jump,” he said, “don’t you worry.” His skating was indeed flawless – “a technical and artistic masterpiece in which he hit eight triples and a quad,” according to the Associate Press. The ice rink was so flooded with flowers after his performance that the next skater – the United States’ Todd Eldridge – had a considerable wait before the ice was cleared.  RL