A Broken Life
Life nevertheless did it. It separated them.
It is impossible to believe but it is so: familiar ice where so many injuries happened, where came love, happiness and fame... And a coffin drowning in flowers. The rink is full of people frozen in silence. The big sign says "Sergei Grinkov". The death did it, it separated them.
It separated Katia from Serezha and Serezha from Katia. Them who in minds and hearts of millions were inseparable whole for a long time, forever. It separated them who fortunately found each other in this world, who were loved by the world as well.
"You know, "- said Katia in one of the interviews, - "there is nothing steel-like in Serezha's nature. He just can concentrate, and he can make me concentrate. Serezha is like a regulator."
He could stay a little bit in the shadow and show off Katia. This great skill is not given to everybody. At 28 many just start to look for their real selves. His life was brief but full of talent, hard work and blinding happiness. Sergei's death broke two lives because Katia's life is broken in half. The half with Serezha, and a half without him. "Pairs is great," - told us Katia, - "especially, when you have a partner like Sergei..."
It is so unbelievable. Not even one figure skater who came to say "Goodbye" can believe it, figure skaters like Oksana Baul, Elena Chaikovskaya, Andrei Bukin, Scott Hamilton, Victor Petrenko, Natasha Bestemiyanova, Stanislav Zhuk, Igor Bobrin...
Father Nikolai performed the service. The same father who baptized Katia, married the happy couple and blessed them to live long and happy live. Now he had to say words of grief and loss...
They left the amateur sport, returned and won in Lillehammer. Who knew, maybe they would return for another Olympic season?
But not anymore, now they won't return. Serezha's strong heart could not bear any longer.
Irina Stepantseva. Copyright by © 1995 Moskovsky Komsomolets
Special thanks to Oksana Volikova for this article.