Sergei Mikhailovich Grinkov

Sergei Grinkov
Medallion with the portrait of Grinkov on his tombstone in the Vagankovo ​​Cemetery in Moscow
Full name	Sergei Mikhailovich Grinkov
nation	Soviet Union / Russia
birthday	4th February 1967
place of birth	Moscow
size	183 cm
Weight	74 kg
date of death	November 20, 1995
Place of death	Lake Placid, New York
Career
discipline	Pair skating
Partner	Ekaterina Gordeeva
society	CSKA Moscow
Trainer	Stanislaw Schuk, Stanislaw Leonowitsch
choreographer	Maria Sujewa, Tatiana Tarasowa
End of career	1994
Medal table
Olympic medals 2 × 0 × 0 × World Cup medals 4 × 1 × 0 × EM medals 3 × 1 × 0 ×
winter Olympics gold Calgary 1988 Couples gold Lillehammer 1994 Couples  World figure skating championships gold Geneva 1986 Couples gold Cincinnati 1987 Couples silver Budapest 1988 Couples gold Paris 1989 Couples gold Halifax 1990 Couples  European figure skating championships silver Copenhagen 1986 Couples gold Prague 1988 Couples gold Leningrad 1990 Couples gold Copenhagen 1994 Couples

Sergei Michailowitsch Grinkow ( Russian Сергей Михайлович Гриньков ; born February 4, 1967 in Moscow ; † November 20, 1995 in Lake Placid , New York , United States ) was a Russian figure skater who started in pair skating for the Soviet Union and Russia .

Career

Sergei Grinkow was the son of Mikhail Kondrateievich Grinkow and Anna Filipovna Grinkova, both police officers. He had an older sister, Natalia. Grinkow began figure skating at CSKA Moscow when he was five. Since his trainer did not consider him a single talent, he introduced him to pair skating. In August 1981, when Grinkov was 14 years old, his coach Vladimir Zacharow selected 10-year-old Ekaterina Gordejewa to form a figure skating pair with him. The couple were often referred to simply as "G&G" throughout their careers. They were trained by Stanislaw Schuk and Stanislaw Leonowitsch , Marina Sujewa and Tatjana Tarasowa were responsible for the choreography .

1985 Gordejewa and Grinkow were junior world champions in Colorado Springs . A year later they took part in the Soviet championships for the first time and finished them as the second best couple behind Jelena Walowa and Oleg Wassiljew . The same order arose on their European championship debut in Copenhagen . They won the silver medal. But already on their world championship debut in Geneva Gordejewa and Grinkow managed to defeat their competitors and become world champions.

In 1987 Gordejewa and Grinkow won the Soviet championships for the first and only time in their careers. At the European Championships they were disqualified because there were problems with Grinkow's ice skate straps and a misunderstanding about the existing rules. At the World Championships in Cincinnati , they defended their world title.

The 1988 Olympic year began for Gordejewa and Grinkow in Prague when they won their first European title, albeit in the absence of their greatest rivals Walowa and Vasiljew. In Calgary Gordejewa and Grinkow were unanimously Olympic champions on their Olympic debut ahead of Walowa / Vasiljew. At the world championships, however, they lost to them because of a fall in the freestyle.

In 1989 the couple did not take part in the European Championships, but became world champions for the third time in Paris . 1990 was the only year of their career in which they became both European and world champions . It was the fourth and final world title for Gordejewa and Grinkow.

In the fall of 1990, they ended their amateur career and switched to the professionals. They toured the USA and Canada with Stars on Ice and became professional world champions three times. In April 1991 Grinkow and Gordejewa married. In September 1992 their daughter Daria was born in Morristown .

A new rule allowed Sergei Grinkow and Jekaterina Gordejewa to be “reamateurised” for the 1994 Olympic season. They did that, became Russian champions, European champions and finally Olympic champions for the second time in Lillehammer . They were the only amateur athletes who managed to do this. After that, they returned to the pros and settled in Simsbury , Connecticut .

Gordejewa and Grinkow are one of the few couples who successfully performed a four-fold twist-lift in competition. With two Olympic victories and four world championship titles , they are among the most successful figure skating couples in history.

On November 12, 1995, Gordejewa and Grinkow had their last public appearance together at a show in Albany . They ran to Verdi's Requiem and “Out of Tears” by the Rolling Stones . On November 20, 1995, Sergei Grinkow collapsed while exercising on the ice in Lake Placid and died of a heart attack . Doctors found that his coronary arteries were blocked. Later tests revealed that Grinkow was genetically predisposed. The genetic risk factor for early heart attacks is also called the "Grinkow risk factor" after him. At the time of his death, Grinkov was 28, his wife Ekaterina Gordejewa 24 and his daughter three years old. He was buried in the Vagankovo ​​Cemetery in Moscow. In his honor, his widow ran with many other well-known figure skaters in February 1996 in a figure skating event that was later broadcast on television. Gordejewa also wrote the book My Sergej ("Mein Sergei" - German title Mondscheinsonat auf dem Eis ). This book was made into a film for television in 1998. She moved to California with her daughter and married the 1998 Olympic figure skating champion Ilya Kulik in 2002 , with whom she has a daughter. Grinkov's mother died in Moscow in 2000, his father had died before him. His sister and niece still live in Russia. To raise awareness of heart disease, Gordejewa took part in some events. In addition to her husband, her father also had a sudden heart attack in 2008.

Azerbaijani postage stamp in honor of Sergei Grinkov and Yekaterina Gordeyeva

Results

Pair skating

(with Jekaterina Gordejewa )

Competition / year	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
winter Olympics				1.						1.
World championships		1.	1.	2.	1.	1.
European championships		2.	D.	1.		1.				1.
Junior World Championships	1.
Soviet championships		2.	1.
Russian championships										1.

• D = disqualified

Web links

• Sergei Michailowitsch Grinkow in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )