Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, the 1992 Olympic silver medalists, perfectly embody the beautiful, classic style of Russian pairs skating of the days of old. I never saw Elena and Denis compete as amateurs but I grew to love and appreciate their skating on the professional scene. Their careers as pro. skaters coincided with the figure skating boom following the Nancy/Tonya hoopla of 1994.
Elena and Denis blossomed on the professional circuit and won the World Professional title in 1996. They skated with Stars on Ice for seven years. I was fortunate to see them skate during their last year with SOI at a show in the spring of 1999 in Madison Square Garden, NYC.
Here they are skating at the 1994 World Professional Championships to "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand. The song was an ironic choice, as Elena and Denis, who used to be married, were divorced at the time of this performance. The couple always insisted that their skating actually improved upon dissolving their romantic relationship. The evidence of this assertion is apparent in this terrific artistic program.
Enjoy Elena and Denis' classic pairs skating!
No comments:
Post a Comment