Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov / After a summer break

Weekend

After a summer break
What can be more romantic than a trip to the mountains?! Fifteen-year-old Muscovite Katia Gordeeva, the 1986 World Champion, just returned from such a trip.

Katia sais: "The mountaineering that is what we, figure skaters, need. Such beauty opens up from the top... This summer Serezha Grinkov, my partner, and I spent a few weeks at the Issyk Kul lake. We’ve listen to plenty of stories about traveler Nikolai Przhevalsky, and about the lake.

"Our coach Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk, the wizard of spear fishing, treated us with very tasty ukha soup.

"It was a great rest! We listened to music for our future programs, practiced new skating elements, ran races. But the mountains were calling. We could not resist and eventually went hiking. Our goal was a mountain top of Budyonny’s Helmet. It was hot so all of us left wearing sleeveless shirts. A sudden snow storm covered us on a trail. First, it snowed, and then rained. We hid ourselves under bushes and in crevices. We had many adventures and got back to the lake very happy.

"We returned to Moscow in a great mood, and in four days performed in Luzniki at the Goodwill Games."

"What do you like besides figure skating? What do you do after school?
"I love books and music, often read poetry and Pushkin's poems, re-read Dumas’ novels."

"Serezha is five years older than you are. He is a college student. He is probably protective of you?"
"Not really. More like, I am taking care of him. I make sure he is not late for a bus or for a competition, or for lunch. I am like a supply manager in our pair..."

... Champions are back from their break. Working days are about to start...