Olympic figure skaters of Russia: Elena Berezhnaya, Alexei Yagudin, Irina Slutskaya, Anton Sikharulidze, Evgeni Plushenko, Alexander Smirnov, Yuko Kavaguti, Maxim Trankov, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Maxim Shabalin, Oksana Domnina, Tatiana Totmianina, Maria Mukho

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 50. Chapters: Elena Berezhnaya, Alexei Yagudin, Irina Slutskaya, Anton Sikharulidze, Evgeni Plushenko, Alexander Smirnov, Yuko Kavaguti, Maxim Trankov, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Maxim Shabalin, Oksana Domnina, Tatiana Totmianina, Maria Mukhortova, Sergei Grinkov, Maxim Marinin, Jana Khokhlova, Julia Obertas, Ksenia Makarova, Artur Dmitriev, Maria Butyrskaya, Yuri Larionov, Vera Bazarova, Alexei Urmanov, Sergei Novitski, Alexei Tikhonov, Dmitri Soloviev, Ekaterina Bobrova, Maria Petrova, Natalia Mishkutenok, Oksana Kazakova, Evgeny Platov, Ilia Kulik, Sergei Slavnov, Ilia Averbukh, Alexander Abt, Tatiana Navka, Oksana Grishuk, Nikolai Panin, Alexander Zhulin, Alena Leonova, Elena Sokolova, Roman Kostomarov, Artem Borodulin, Viktoria Volchkova, Oleg Ovsyannikov, Evgenia Shishkova, Maya Usova, Irina Lobacheva, Andrei Bushkov, Marina Eltsova, Ilia Klimkin, Vadim Naumov, Vladimir Fedorov, Anjelika Krylova, Oleg Tataurov, Igor Pashkevich. Excerpt: Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya (Russian: , born 11 October 1977 in Nevinnomyssk, Russian SFSR) is a Russian pair skater. With partner Anton Sikharulidze, she is the 1998 and 1999 World champion, 1998 Olympic silver medalist and 2002 Olympic champion. Berezhnaya first competed with Oleg Shliakhov for Latvia and won gold at the 1995 Trophée de France. While training together in January 1996, she suffered a serious injury, leaving her partly paralyzed and unable to speak. She recovered rapidly and began competing again in November 1996 with new partner, Anton Sikharulidze. Within two years of the accident, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had established themselves as one of the best pair teams in the world. They were noted for their lyrical, flowing and elegant style, which they combined with strong athleticism, including outstanding speed, unison, and big elements. During their career together, they were coached by Tamara Moskvina at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey. Their Olympic gold medals are shared with Canadian pair Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. Berezhnaya was born in the town of Nevinnomyssk in southern Russia. She has two brothers, Alexei and Ivan. Her parents divorced when she was five due to her father's alcoholism and her mother remarried. The family also included three cousins after their parents' deaths. Berezhnaya began skating at the age of four in Nevinnomyssk. At the age of 8, she began to be coached by Nina Ruchkina, who had arrived from Moscow. When Berezhnaya was 13, Ruchkina decided that her son, Alexander Ruchkin, should be a pair skater despite his poor upper body strength, and she asked Berezhnaya, as the smallest girl, to be his partner. Berezhnaya was skeptical of the idea but Ruchkina convinced her mother that the pair would get a chance at CSKA Moscow's skating school. Berezhnaya moved to Moscow, 791 miles to the north, and lived in a dormitory as her mother could not move with