Elena Berezhnaya

Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya (Елена Викторовна Бережная, born 11 October 1977) is a Russian former pair skater.

They spent a few months training in Colorado Springs, Colorado and then trained mostly at Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, despite the deteriorating and crowded facilities of the 1990s.

Berezhnaya/Shliakhov won bronze at Skate America, gold at Trophée de France and bronze at Nations Cup.

Shliakhov was well behaved for half a year, but then dropped her from a lift.

Moskvina had professional psychologists work with him regularly, however, after brief periods of calm with apologies and professions of affection, he would start to slip back to his old behavior.

Berezhnaya thought he showed some improvement, however, Moskvina told her it was not enough and advised her to end the partnership.

Shliakhov was registered at a mental hospital in Riga.

They had a strong showing at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, finishing eighth.

The next season they won a pair of silver medals at the 1994 Skate Canada International and 1994 Trophée de France and finished 7th at the 1995 World Championships.

Having little success in keeping Shliakhov in line, their coach resigned at the end of the season.

Berezhnaya had begun to develop friendships with the other skaters at Yubileyny, becoming particularly close to Anton Sikharulidze, the 1994 and 1995 World Junior champion with Maria Petrova.

Shliakhov began to perceive Sikharulidze as his rival.

Berezhnaya first competed with Oleg Shliakhov for Latvia and won gold at the 1995 Trophée de France.

The Latvian federation appealed to renowned coach Tamara Moskvina to take on the pair and she eventually invited them to train with her in May or June 1995.

At the end of 1995, Shliakhov demanded that they train in Riga for three weeks in preparation for the 1996 European Championships.

While training together in January 1996, she suffered a serious injury, leaving her partly paralyzed and unable to speak.

She recovered rapidly and began competing again in November 1996 with new partner, Anton Sikharulidze.

Within two years of the accident, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had established themselves as one of the best pair teams in the world.

During their competitive career, they were coached by Tamara Moskvina at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Berezhnaya was born in the southern Russian town of Nevinnomyssk, her mother having moved from Voronezh and her father from beyond the Urals.

She has an elder brother, Alexei, and a younger one, Ivan.

Her parents divorced when she was five due to her father's alcoholism; her mother remarried but eventually divorced again.

The family also included a cousin, Nadezhda, whose parents had died.

Berezhnaya began skating at the age of four in Nevinnomyssk.

At the age of 8, she began to be coached by Nina Ruchkina, who had arrived from Moscow.

When Berezhnaya was 13, her coach asked her to switch from singles to pairs.

Ruchkina had decided that her son, Alexander Ruchkin, should be a pair skater despite not being physically suited for the discipline – and she wanted Berezhnaya, as the smallest girl, to be his partner.

Although Berezhnaya enjoyed watching pair skating, she was skeptical of the proposed partnership but Ruchkina convinced her mother that the pair would get a chance at CSKA Moscow's skating school.

The coaches at CSKA also had doubts about Ruchkin's suitability but accepted the pair.

Berezhnaya moved to Moscow, 791 miles to the north, and lived in a dormitory as her mother could not move with her.

They made little progress as Ruchkin continued to struggle to lift her.

After unsuccessful partnerships with Ruchkin and another skater, the 14-year-old Berezhnaya teamed with Latvian-born Oleg Shliakhov, who had been dumped by his seventh partner.

The partnership went well at first, however, over time he started to become physically and verbally abusive, hitting Berezhnaya and dropping her from lifts.

He decided to move to Riga, Latvia, saying they would have better and cheaper training conditions.

Seeing no alternative partner, she went with him.

Although not violent outside the rink, he became abusive again in training.

Berezhnaya kept quiet and did not tell her mother, worrying it would worsen her poor health.

She continued for her mother's sake, "I knew that she would watch me skate on TV and that it gave her strength. She was the only reason for me to continue."

They trained on their own for a year as no coach wanted to take the pair but eventually found a coach unaware of Shliakhov's reputation.

With partner Anton Sikharulidze, she is the 1998 and 1999 World champion, 1998 Olympic silver medalist and 2002 Olympic champion.