"Roses for Elena Berezhnaya" documentary
script
Kirill Nabutov/Narrator:
KN
Elena Berezhnaya:
L
Anton Sikharulidze:
A
Tatiana Berezhnaya/Lena's mom:
T
Tamara Moskvina:
TM
words in
/ /
- the description of the scene
...
instead of
words - difficult text w/specific terminology, will be filled later
/SLC and meeting at the airport
shot sequence/
/old film/
KN
: This is a story about a girl parents once brought to
skating. It happened 20 years ago, and nobody could know what dramatic,
incredible, almost unbelievable destiny would be meant for this girl. Parents
just wanted her to learn how to dance on ice beautifully...
/titles: Roses for Elena
Berezhnaya/
KN
: Olympic Champions in pairs skating Elena Berezhnaya and Anton
Sikharulidze, Honored Masters of Sport, double Euro Champions, double World
Champions. Today they're on the top of their well-deserved fame and success. If
6 years ago somebody had told Lena Berezhnaya that she would get all of this, he
would have been considered mad...
/X-ray scene/
Doctor's Voice:
...
KN
: We would see this X-ray later,
there's no need to hurry.
/"City Lights" performance at
CoR/
/old photos sequence/
KN
: Lena Berezhnaya was born in the Southern town
called Nevinnomyssk. At the age of 4, she started to skate, and everyone
understood immediately that she had a talent. When she was 10, a famous coach
Stanislav Zhuk wanted to take her in his group. They thought, it was too early.
Lena Berezhnaya's independent life began at 13 when she went to Moscow for
training.
/studio/
T
: They was telling me: "You, let her go"... There was a real
scandal at home with her dad... First we hid that she left, I said she went for
temporary training to Moscow, though I knew she left there at all. We were
hiding it for a month or more, but when I told the truth, there was such a
scandal...
/Lena's place/
KN
: Today Lena Berezhnaya lives in St. Petersburg, in a
one-room apartment that's located in not prestigious area of the city, but
thinks, it doesn't matter much. Her day begins with the same ritual: her duty is
to wake up Anton with a phone call.
L
(speaking on the phone): Hello?
Kislota? Get up.
KN
: "Kislota" is an official nickname of Mr. Sikharulidze in
their small collective.
/Anton's place/
A
: She has been waking me up for 5 years already, every
single day, because otherwise I won't get up. I just don't hear the alarm
clock.
KN
: And this is like a reflex, right?
A
: Yes, yes, yes. The alarm
clock may ring for hours and I
kinda... If Lena haven't called, it is still early to get up... (setting the table)
Well, what God sent...
/at choreography class with Alexander Matveev/
Matveev
: ...
KN
: The
beginning of a day. Working in a class with choreographer Matveev. A very
important work, especially when the new program is being made. It was being made
before the Olympics. Lena is alone yet, Anton is late.
/GWG 1994/
KN
: These shots are what have left from the Lena Berezhnaya's
previous sport life or simply from her previous life. 1994, Petersburg, summer,
Goodwill Games. Berezhnaya skated for Latvia with her partner Oleg
Shliakhov.
/Fragments of
Belousova/Protopopov, Rodnina/Zaitsev performances/
KN
: Pair
skating is the relationship between a man and a woman. It doesn't only concern
the images they create on ice, but their common life too. Belousova-Protopopov -
the greatest pair on ice and a married couple off. Rodnina-Zaitsev once was a
married couple too. It's a destiny of many sport pairs. Adult people who spend
months working together get closer, it's natural...
/GWG 1994/
KN
: So, Lena Berezhnaya was 18, guys liked her and her partner
Oleg Shliakhov obviously also liked her. What is more, young Anton Sikharulidze
from Petersburg liked her too... Because of that or not, the relationship between
Berezhnaya-Shliakhov was far from ideal. Of course, public didn't know that.
/studio/
T
: He could hit her so that she flew up to the border. And this
happened when I was there, I can imagine what was happening when I wasn't. Guys
in the group said, he was very rude towards her.
TM
: He loved her. He
loved
her. After some of those tiffs he came to me and cried. He said: "I don't
understand how it happens. Why I hit her or why I shout at her. I want to get
the results so much". The situation was like this. A life drama.
KN
: Well,
Anton appeared in her life, that was a final...
TM
: Well, a typical...
typical love triangle... at that time.
/GWG 1994/
KN
: Those who didn't know about dramatic relations of
Berezhnaya and Shliakhov predicted they would be the world best pair soon. But it
turned to be another way. There are compulsory elements in pair skating:
different jumps, lifts, throws and parallel spins. The closer to each other
partners spin, the higher their class is... Everything happened during the
training in Riga, on 9th of January in 1996...
/studio/
L
: We were doing a parallel spin and "with a slight movement of a
leg" his skate hit my head.
/X-ray/
Doctor's voice
: ...
KN
: Does this require a surgery?
Doctor's voice
: Yes, this requires an immediate surgery, of course.
/studio/
T
: I was at work. Brigitta - she is in charge of skating in Latvia -
called me and said that Lena fell, got concussion of the brain and wouldn't
compete at Euro. I actually didn't care about Euro much, I cared for my child.
They said there was no need for me to go. I said: "Get me visa, I'm
flying".
A
: Tamara Nikolaevna called me, she knew we were friends,
spent time together, and said: "Well, Anton, hold on your chair, don't faint". I
thought: "What happened?". She said: "Lena is in the hospital, she got a trauma
of a head". First, I didn't understand and thought it happened not on the
training, that Shliakhov did it in his anger. He used to do many bad things and,
I thought, he might have done the unbearable. But it came out, all happened
during the training.
L
: Well, what's so... Who hadn't had his head sliced by
a skate during the training? There were so many examples... Then after they
stitched me, a woman came and asked: "Can you talk?". I tried and couldn't:
"Sorry, no"... And they took me to X-ray.
/another X-ray scene/
Doctor's voice
: Internal hemorrhage, brain bruise
is behind it...
/studio/
L
: When I was already exhausted, the doctor came and said: "You
need an immediate surgery". I said: "Do whatever you want. Surgery? Do a
surgery, please". That tiredness was overwhelming. I remember quite a few things
after that... I remember, they began to cut my hair and old nurses were saying:
"Oh, girl, poor little thing, such a hair..." I was like: "Wahhh!!!"
KN
: Was
you offended?
L
: Yeah. I was bold. They shaved me and got to the surgery.
/brain surgery scene/
KN
: Every physician can understand what squares
and circles you can see on Lena's X-ray are - the traces of a surgery that helped
to save the life of the former at that moment skating "star". That time
everyone could think of anything. Would she live? Would she become disabled? Would she
stay dumb forever as a speech center of the brain is damaged? They could think
of anything but not about her future skating.
/training/
/studio/
L
: When I came to my senses, I thought: "Is everything over... or
not?". That was scary.
/old film/
/studio/
T
: Lies like a corpse. Pale. Thin. Barely opens her eyes.
Practically doesn't move, nor hands, nor legs.
TM
: The face was so still, and
she... it was painful to watch. She nodded, no, opened and closed her eyes when
I was asking her something... I came to her, said hello, petted her.
L
: I had been
keeping silence for 3 days after that. The most interesting, the funniest thing
was... I live with lenses. When all that happened I thought: "Damn, it would
take a long time and I have lenses on my eyes, I have to take them out". I tried
to explain that at first aid to Oleg, tried to show him or say, but
couldn't. I tried to say: "Lenses, get them out". Of course, nobody understood.
Three days after the surgery I remembered: "Ack, I still wear lenses!". And
tried to tell them again to get those lenses out at last. I forgot how they were
called, forgot the word, how it was spelt or how to say it. I lied and tried to
remember what was that. Then I remembered. Wanted to write, tried to show with
gestures, pointed fingers at my eyes. At last they got the hint. They said:
"Lenses?" I said: "Yes, lenses..." They started to panic, got those lenses out,
threw them... And I tried to remember the alphabet for two days more. Just
couldn't: "A, B, what's next?".
T
: Well, then we started to study Russian
from the very beginning, to say "mama", to learn childish poems. That was
scary.
/Lena in her car/
KN
: After the surgery Lena's mom and Anton took Lena
from Riga to St. Petersburg. She lived in Anton's parents' house and they cared
for her as she was their own daughter. Today the Olympic Champion Elena
Berezhnaya drives her fashionable car through the streets, but then she was
happy if she could catch a taxi.
/studio/
L
: The speech was recovering very slowly. At the very beginning I talked
like this: "Chto ty delaesh'?" ("What are you doing?"). With this kind of an
accent. I talked like this, because I just couldn't talk any faster. People
who didn't know anything thought: "Is she joking?"
I. Volkova, a doctor
: This Baltic accent stayed in her subconsciousness, in
the speech center of her brain. She spoke Russian there, but also heard
Latvian speech a lot, so it stayed with her. That's why she speaks in a slow
tempo, like many Baltic people do, like "Zdravstvuyte" ("Hello"), and has a
little accent.
L
: "Chto ty skazala?" ("What did you say?"). Of course, it was funny. And I
had to get to Yubileiniy somehow... Wave my hand [to catch a taxi], and try to
say this for half an hour: "Dvorets sporta Yubileiniy" ("Yubileiniy Sport
Palace").
/at the Yubileiniy/
KN
: Every training starts with almost ritual procedure: tiny like a sparrow
and unbelievably active Tamara Moskvina tries to fix her ancient video-camera
that had seen a lot of skating stars.
/training/
KN
: "Yubileiniy" is a factory making champions. These walls met all the
greatest, but all of them got the same: 45 minutes of ice two times a day.
Even if you're Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze and you're preparing for Olympic Games
in SLC, you will get only those 45 minutes twice.
/training/
KN
: Six years ago Anton left his successful pair and began to skate with
Lena. Everyone said, he was crazy, he ruined his career. He and Lena simply
skated around the rink, holding each other hands...
/training/
TM
: One, two... Ah, yes, you do a simple lift now... go here faster to gain
speed... This place is good, I like it, she did it in unison... and here she
was a bit faster... Here the arms are not exactly...
A
: Aha, it was mine...
/
training/
TM
: Look at yourself here, you're sitting in the lift like a queen, you'll
like it... Raised a chin, good, arms...
A
: There were no talking that we had to skate or when we would start
skating or if we would skate at all.
L
: Of course, there were two opinions. Some people said: "Never,
categorically no". The others said: "Oh, but you've been skating for all of
your life and if you go on it, everything will recover faster, your speech,
movements... I was like: "That's fine with me. I will skate".
/training/
/studio/
A
: We called Tamarochka and told her: "Tamarochka, we want to skate in your
group. Can we?" And she answered: "With pleasure. Come".
TN
: Maybe, he had some hope that someday she would recover and skate, but,
I guess, that time, seeing what condition she was in, he understood - and I
understood this better than anyone - that we couldn't talk about her future
skating. Frankly, we did all we did just to recover that girl. I thought then:
"Now she's slowly getting better and we will slowly-slowly get her out to the
normal life without skating. Because it would be wrong to cut her off that in
a single day...
T
: She wanted to be back to ice from the very beginning. She said to me
when she was lying paralyzed: "Mom, I'll be skating". And I answered "Of
course, you will". How could I tell her that she wouldn't then?
/training/
L
: And how did Anton decide to skate with me after everything?.. A disabled
girl, huh? What was he thinking about, I don't know... I still don't. I still
don't understand how we have managed to do all of this...
/old film/
/Nagano's LP/
KN
: Two years later after the catastrophe Lena got into there were Olympic
Games in Japan. And they went there as heavy candidates for champions. And lost, and fell together during the final
seconds of their LP. She was crying, that's understandable. After that they won Worlds
and Euros. And there were the last days of preparation to SLC Games,
that were their second and probably the last chance. The rivals were very strong.
And the country was almost native for those rivals. Tension...
/training/
TM
: You should do it all at once,
without stops so then it will be clear...
A
: Stop this music, I won't skate to this music. Lena,
turn on normal music.
L
: I didn't
take it.
A
: The music was lousy from the
very beginning, so it would stay lousy... Damn!
TM
: Lena, tell him
to do not a single throw, but
a throw after the lift or it would look unnatural.
KN
: Tamara Moskvina says that among all of her students,
Sikharulidze is the most complicated one, the most hot-blooded one. Maybe, that's
because of his Georgian ancestors. But Moskvina is an experienced coach, she never
starts quarrels and what for? She knows what pair skating is like for men - they have
to carry their partners for the half of the program during the throws, twists,
lifts. Speaking of lifts. That happened just recently, in October.
/studio/
A
: When I fell and saw blood, I thought she had hit her head. I really
thought: "Ohh... It will begin now..."
/failed lift/
/studio/
A
: And then I told her: "How are you? How are you?" And she told me: "I'm
fine, but look at yourself". I didn't feel something had happened to me.
Raised my arm, looked - everything opened there a bit... Then I felt a bit
better.
KN
: Better?
A
: Umm, yes. The main thing was that she was OK, that nothing had happened
to her.
KN
: But what if you had lost your arm?
A
: Well, that could be. But we would do something about it. I would skate
with prosthetic arm...
/failed lift scene
replay/
KN
: On Old New Year's Day, two weeks before
going to SLC Lena Berezhnaya gathered her friends at her place for a girl
party. And what is the main thing for a girl party? Of course, it's a
fortune-telling procedure to find out who your destined man is. They chose an
old and tested method that gives 100% guarantee.
Girl 1
: ... this small one is Lena.
Girls together
: Ahh, the Kid!
Girl 2
:
And who's this one, in the hat?
Girl 1
: Hey, don't you know? Anton, who else
could it be?
Girl 2
: Anton [Antosha?] Sikharulidze!
Girl 2
: Well, that's it...
Girl
1
: Yeah, the decision is made...
KN
: Suddenly one of the ladies noticed
strange symbols that appeared on the burnt paper.
Elena
Sokolova
: Here is written: "Final results". Russians are the first,
Frenchmen are the second, Canadians are the third and Russians again are the
fourth...
Girl
: Wh-where?
/SLS shot sequence/
KN
:
Here it is, the prediction for the Olympic result. A joke, you say? But
it really could be this way - Russia, France, Canada - if the French pair
hadn't withdrawn because of the trauma. And it turned out to be Russia and
Canada. The thing the whole world talks about. Olympics, pair skating,
Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze vs. Sale-Pelletier. The world talks, but no-one
knows what really has happened there. Everything was against them at
that Olympics. Who could expected this? Two days before the start Lena got
herpes on her lips so that she barely could eat and talk.
/studio/
L
: Doctors were
worrying, because my head hurt, everything else hurt, lips hurt too... I had
been lying in a bed for a day, because couldn't nor move, nor eat, nor
drink... just through a cocktail straw... It was awful actually.
A
: When everything goes smooth, bad things may happen
anytime. And there were so many problems: lip problem, high temperature for
one day... I thought then: "Oh, great. That means we will surely
win".
L
: That herpes was so awful, so scary... I kept
saying to those who treated me: "I have only few hours left! Do something!" I
couldn't take any medicines because of drug tests, so we tried to use our own
ideas.
/SLC SP shots/
KN
: The world didn't see
Lena's swollen lips under the bright lipstick. And the world couldn't know
that they covered her lips with toothpaste to dry the skin somehow and were
afraid to give her medicines. But herpes was just 1/3 of their miseries. The
second 1/3 was the lot. They didn't take it themselves but asked the friend,
American skater John Zimmerman. He drew the 3rd starting number in the SP. To
skate before the strongest rivals means never get the highest marks.
/studio/
TM
: What could
we do about it? It was impossible to get another lot, so it was their destiny.
The third place... starting number, so what was we supposed to do? To cry, to
draw once again - that was impossible. So they have to skate.
/SLC SP shots/
L
: We had
to skate as if it was for the last time.
KN
: But you did
great in SP, right?
L
: Yeah, yeah.
KN
:
What did Tamarochka tell you after you had finished?
L
:
She said: "Well, you're giants, you did it".
/at SLC/, /studio/
KN
:
Did you sleep normally before the LP?
L
: Well, there isn't
much time for sleeping, because you have to get up at 5, so you can't sleep
"normally". Of course, you fall asleep, because of tiredness... There was
nothing else to do there. No TV at your room, just nothing... Music? You have
enough of it during the day. I read a book. Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich.
KN
: And what exactly?
L
: Poems,
poems.
A
: Before the LP I sat with guys from our hockey
team in some corridor and laughed for 3-4 hours. Then Jenya Plushenko came to
me and said: "Hey, you're laughing too much today. Calm down". I never was
like this before, because I usually get concentrated before some
tournament, sit alone, get annoyed if somebody comes or talks to me, so it's
better to leave me alone. And that time I felt so sure... I knew we would
win.
/warm-up collision/
KN
: Before the very
beginning of the LP their third misery happened. The whole world saw it on the
TV.
/warm-up collision/,
/studio/
KN
: On the screen it looked like Anton
spotted her at the last moment and tried to push you away so that she wouldn't
hit you.
L
: I spotted her myself actually, I mean, I skate
and see somebody moving in front... I wanted to push him aside too... to give
her some place to skate, not to crash into us. But I was
late.
A
: I never collided with somebody during the warm-up
for 21 year I skate, for my entire life. And then, at the Olympics, just
before the LP we collided with the Canadian girl exactly. That's
fantastic!
/warm-up collision/, /studio/
L
: I
skated to the board judges sat at after that. They were quarreling so hard
that I thought: "Oh-oh, we're in trouble now". It just was so unpleasant to
hear what they were talking...
KN
: And what were they
talking?
L
: They were quarreling.
KN
:
Because of you?
L
: No, because of the situation. Foul
English language, I would say.
KN
: Foul English
language?
L
: Yeah, I mean, there weren't just Russian
judges...
/warm-up collision/
KN
: They had less
than ten minutes to get themselves together before the LP. And they hadn't
trained some important elements during the warm-up.
/SLC LP/, /studio/
TM
: I thought, they were tuned
normally and when I saw an ideal first jump, I breathed out with relief - they
seemed to concentrate and skate a normal program as
usually.
A
: I've never failed any element in any program
for 4 years already. And when it happened - boom! That flaw... I gritted my
teeth, but I had already done that. What could I change?
Nothing.
TM
: When I saw it I thought: "Aha, he's a bit
over-excited". I breathed out again and said to myself: "Anton, make a
conclusion". Because they had the whole program ahead.
L
:
I requested to myself: "First do, then discuss". There was no room for doubts,
no doubts at all, we had to fight until the very end. Like at war. A war on
ice. You simply fight with yourself.
/kiss-and-cry/
KN
: And immediately
after that there was turn of their main and the only rivals Canadians to
perform. Lena and Anton had only one thing to do - wait.
/S&P LP shot sequence/,
/studio/
L
: I was even sure that they would do everything
perfectly... due to the public's reaction... So... I sat and
waited.
KN
: You didn't look at the screen, did
you?
L
: The TV was there and I... was looking bluntly
somewhere... nowhere...
/kiss-and-cry/, /studio/
L
: When they began
to... when the first mark was shown and she was crying happily... Then the
second mark... and everyone was like: "WOW?!" Their second place was shown...
and her face... she wasn't crying anymore, she was surprised at how everything
came out... That's what I remembered the best. And Tamara Nikolaevna rushed to
me, kissed, said: "Congratulations!" I didn't
understand.
KN
: But you saw that Canadians were second,
that meant you were first...
L
: Yes! But I kinda... I
couldn't believe it... There always were some doubts... And all of this was so
sudden...
KN
: Doubts that they just won't let you
win?
L
: Yeah. But as Tamara Nikolaevna said: "That means God
does really exist..."
/first awarding ceremony/
A
: That was
a feeling... a feeling that you will rarely have in your
life...
KN
: Did you actually cry...
A
:
I actually did, I even tried to hold those tears, because... But they were
running by themselves...
/getting back home, in the car/
T
:
...you tried to say the words. And Anton had tears...
L
: I
was... insensible...
T
: I wouldn't say
so.
L
: I just didn't have any feelings, any emotions
left... just nothing.
T
: You didn't understand what that
was first. And when you did, it struck at your head.
L
:
Yeah.
T
: And then they made us get back from heaven...
immediately. Right?
L
: Aha...
/second award ceremony, exhibition/, /at the
airport/
KN
: Everything that happened next had
nothing in common with sport. It was politic, diplomacy and show business.
From the sport side of pair skating, it was obvious that Anton Sikharulidze
and she, Elena Berezhnaya, became new Olympic Champions with a small
superiority.
And nobody could say that such a destiny was meant for this girl six years
ago...
Lena and Anton left SLC before the closing ceremony. In Petersburg they were
met as if they were statesmen. All Olympic Champions should be met like
this...
/at the car/
L
: ..flowers, escort... Wow! The fame
came! The fame came! That's cool... It's actually so pleasant...
/studio/
KN
: When you first became a
pair with Anton what was your dream or the main aim... or dream... I don't
know the word...
L
: No, that wasn't dream... I had no
dreams at that time... There was just a banal wish, a banal jump called axel.
Everyone starts with this jump and if you do it, everything will be fine. It
was the first jump I had to get through... An axel.
KN
: So
it wasn't any competition, Olympics... Just axel?
L
: Well,
yes...
/Vancouver Worlds, LP/
/old film/
/titles/
The End
Last updated on
: 24.07.2002