Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Lena never came up to me to say, ‘He kicked me,’ “ Drey recalls. “She never said a word, because she considered herself to be dependent on him. Remember, no one needed her in Russia. She was let go from everywhere in Russia, so she felt that she was dependent on Shlyakhov, on Latvia.” Drey sighs. “She was only sixteen,” he says. “She was not aware of the greatness of her skating; she did not know at the time that she would become a champion one day. I used to tell her, when she was sad, ‘Lenochka, don’t worry. Really, you will become great.’ “ But his words meant little to Berezhnaya. She was
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Moskvina lives by a few maxims, one of which is that life should be as busy as possible. “I live according to Lenin,” she says with a wink. “Change of activity is rest.”
When Berezhnaya’s mother is asked the obvious question—why didn’t your daughter leave Shlyakhov?—her answer is a chilling one. “You know,” she says, “maybe she wouldn’t even leave him now. Because they gave her the person, and that’s it, she was skating with him.”
“Someone said to me, ‘The blues should be sexy,’ ” he says, incredulous. “I said, ‘The blues is a funeral march!’ And some people want the tango to be what they call ‘sexy.’ Well, a true tango is the desperate dance of the poor people living in the slums of Argentina. Not what you’d call a happy, sexy little dance.”
“Bad energy is like a fart on the ice,” Gauthier would say. “When someone farts on the ice and you go around once, it stinks everywhere. Wherever you are on the ice, people
The Grand Prix Final is an odd duck among competitions, requiring a pair to perform two different long programs.
Tamara Moskvina was up to her usual publicity campaign. She was up in the stands, openly talking to judges.
Later, in Harbin, Zhao’s mother will say, “Actually, the little girl succeeded with the quadruple. The thing is, she got so happy that she fell to the ground afterwards.”
Because it came down to the second mark, and the second mark is about culture.
Ullmark understood that the former Eastern bloc was linked not just by politics but also by taste.
Forever afterwards, Le Gougne has defended that six. But Candeloro’s own take, published this week in a French paper, is illuminating. “If she hadn’t helped me, I wouldn’t have won a medal,” Candeloro says bluntly. “All the countries do the same. There are schemes, there is collusion. And if France did not scheme, it wouldn’t win any medals. It’s easy to attack Marie-Reine Le Gougne, although she only did what she was told to do.”
Gailhaguet admitted speaking about judging on his cell phone in front of his chauffeurs, but insisted that he had merely been speaking about the judging and results of the French National Championships that had already taken place. “If I had special things to say,” he declared, “I would not take a car with my chauffeur.”
the ISU didn’t act-except to send a letter asking federation presidents to come forward if they knew anything about Tokhtakhounov.
But Marie-Reine Le Gougne had spoken, and she had said one thing that was unforgettable. She had said: “You must help us.”
They have a dog named Axel.
They may be the only sports celebrities who have ever tried to curb their fans’ Internet chat room excesses by a direct appeal to their better impulses.
“How many people in the past got screwed by this system? How many?” he demands. “It was probably worse in the old days. No, it was never about me. It’s about having a fair chance to compete. Those officials take an oath and they should take it seriously. I take my oath seriously. I don’t take dope, I don’t cheat.”
Seven families moved out to make room for one wealthy man. It was a sign of the times.
“Russia is really changing now,” he says. “We’re beginning to have a middle class, and I think it’s the most important thing. Because the middle class, it’s very important for all countries. Middle class makes the whole life.
“Before,” Lu Manli says, “we loved her just because she’s our only daughter. She’s always been a little girl in my eyes. But now it’s different. I hadn’t expected my child to be so brave. It’s almost like that she is willing to pay her life for this career.
But live skating is a performance, and intangible things can pass between the people here, now, at this very moment.
