Last night, while going through old skating tapes, I came across this exhilarating performance by German skater Tanja Scewczenko. Tanja was only on the international scene for such a short time that I had almost forgotten about her as the years have passed, but this performance quickly reminded me why her skating was so special in the mid to late 1990s.
I first saw Tanja on TV at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where she was hyped as the next German ladies superstar in a long line of great German ladies skaters, such as 1980 Olympic Champion Annette Poetsch, and the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Champion, Katarina Witt. Katarina had reinstated as an amateur for the 1994 Games, though Tanja had beaten her in the National championships leading up to Lillehammer. Everything seemed to be falling into place for the 16-year-old. I remember Tanja as a pretty, spunky skater with youthful exuberance and big jumps. She is also well-known as the skater with whom Oksana Baiul, the eventual winner of the Games, collided with on the practice ice the day before the freeskate. In the collision, if I recall accurately, Oksana bruised her ribs and side, and suffered a nasty cut on her leg. I don't know what Tanja's injuries were in the collision. A month following the Games at the World Championships in Japan, Tanja again experienced a freak accident in practice. I'm not entirely sure of the details, but she showed up to the freeskate with a bandage covering her chin. Despite the facial injury, Tanja skated well and captured the bronze medal, yet another harbinger, so it seemed, of the great things on the horizon for the German teen.
I don't recall seeing Tanja in the following season, but I understand that a a severe and nearly-deadly combination of viral infections knocked her out of competitions following her respectable 6th-place finish at the 1996 Worlds in Edmonton. Tanja did not compete until the following fall during the 1997/1998 skating season. When she did return to the ice, it was in winning-fashion, defeating the 1996 World bronze medalist (who went on to become a 2-time World Champion in later years) Irina Slutskaya, and 1995 World Champion Lu Chen and eventual World Champion later that season, Maria Butyrskaya, in her two grand prix events. At the Grand Prix Final in Munich, then called the Champions Series Final, Tanja was again ill. I don't know the whole story, but before the freeskate, the commentators said that they were surprised that she hadn't withdrawn from the competition, as it had appeared that she was going to collapse after finishing her short program. Whatever her illness was, it didn't show as Tanja skated the performance of her life, electrifying her home-crown with high-flying triples and an energetic presentation that radiated heart and unbridled joy.
Though Tara Lipinski, reigning World Champion and eventual Olympic Champion, skated a solid, inspired freeskate herself just moments after Tanja's career-defining skate,and won the gold medal, it was Tanja's performance that brought commentators and audience-members to tears. Tanja's skate was one of triumph, overcoming illness, injury, and pressure from skating her her home country. A beautiful moment!
The future looked bright for Tanja heading into the 1998 Nagano Games just months later, unfortunately, she was one of the many athletes to catch the flu in the Olympic village and was forced to withdraw.
After withdrawing from the Games, and no doubt heartbroken, my knowledge of what happened to Tanja goes fuzzy. I didn't see her compete again, so obviously she retired. This was very disappointing for myself and for skating fans, who always rooted for Tanja as the underdog and enjoyed her vibrant skating and personality. However, maybe for Tanja, enough was enough. A skater's life is difficult and that is only compounded when injuries and illness are constant. I've read that Tanja went on to become an actress on German daytime television and even appeared in German Playboy, as did Katarina Witt, who Tanja was compared to so often in her skating career.
Without further ado, please sit back, relax, and partake in a truly exciting moment of pure beauty in figure skating as Tanja defeats the odds and rises to the occasion at the 1997 Champions Series Final:
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