PRESS RELEASE!
For Immediate Release:
10/01/99
Contact: TPM Management
SKATING LEGEND PASHA GRISHUK MAKES HISTORY !
Pasha Grishuk now becomes the first Lady
Ice Dancer to successfully
make the transition to a professional singles
skater - in the annals of
figure skating , at the 'Huntington Arena'
, Huntington W. Virginia .
In February 1998 as Pasha stood on the
Olympic Games winners podium in Nagano Japan, and received her second gold
medal (first was in Lillehammer 1994) - the World was her oyster!.
In the previous five years, with her Ice
Dancing partner Evgeny Platov, they
had conquered all, and won a total of 2-
Olympic Gold Medals, 4- World
Championships and 3- European titles -
in fact Pasha has won a total of 26
Gold medals throughout her career.
Fast forward several months - Evgeny is skating with another partner.
Pasha isn't skating!, - she is however a member of the
Screen Actors Guild and is doing commercials;
appearing in Fox TV's Beverly
Hills 90210 and USA's Happy Hour, reading
Hollywood Movie scripts,
choreographing routines for other skaters,
providing financially for her
charity - Orphan Houses, living the life
of a celebrity in Beverly Hills -
AND contemplating retirement from skating!.
Pasha felt
that a lot of people expected her to walk away from the
ice,- "some
people almost succeeded to make me do that, but then came an
ocean of letters and e-mails from my fans
and supporters telling me not to -
and I realised that my heart still belonged
to figure skating and I just
couldn't leave it."
After being a commentator at the European Championships
in Prague, she knew that performing was
still in her blood, simply talking
about the sport she loves was not enough
for her !.
So here she is, travelling to Huntington, W. Va - to the ESPN
Professional Figure Skating Championships
on October 18th and 19th - as a
SOLO skater.
Make no mistake this is a competition, she will skate two programs -
one technical and one artistic, marked
on a scale to 10 - (plus an exhibition program - that will not be marked)
by a panel of five judges, from the ranks
of figure skating.
Her 'competitors' will be Surya Bonaly -
3 times World silver medalist,
Elizabeth Manley - Olympic and World silver
medalist, Tania Kwiatkowski - US
silver medalist and (making her pro debut)
- Olympian Tonya Harding.
So why is she doing this?
"For my fans- they want me to keep skating , I had done
everything possible in Ice Dancing and
it was time to move on - I was a
singles skater for ten years prior to becoming
an Ice Dancer - so I can
still do some jumps, but I am concentrating
now on entertaining the
audience with a combination of singles
skating, acting and Ice Dancing
moves, and it will be something fresh".
" I realize the risk that I
am taking and that it is almost impossible
for me to outscore some of the other singles
skaters technically, with only
a few months preparation , but my
Tour of Australia was cancelled and also
my Elvis Stojko Tour of Canada so I decided
to go directly to competitions;
I have other strengths and so I will play
to them and if the audience like
my routines - then I have been successful,
no matter the judges mark".
22 years ago she skated privately for then
USSR Premier - Leonid Brezhnev,
who launched her career (calling her 'the
Little Wonder').
In 1998 President of the Russian Federation
Boris Yeltsin granted her "Award
for great services performed for the Fatherland
- 3rd Degree" - making her a
National hero! - and the Mayor of Marlborough
Massachusetts gave her - 'The
Key to the City'.
Whatever happens in Huntington, Pasha will go on, she is a
fighter ! - "
I have many plans for the future, wonderful friends and a
legion of fans who support me, I am healthy
and a two-time Olympic
Champion - how hard can life be?"
Pasha feels that she has at least five years
professional skating left in
her and after that time will concentrate
on managing and training future
Olympians, one thing is for sure - figure
skating will never be the same
when she eventually hangs up her skates-
she was an innovator and brought
the stuffy world of Ice Dancing to new
levels and prominence - as Olympic
Champion and T V commentator Mr. Dick Button
remarked - "This Lady is a
firecracker!,.... she has some spark and
flare that goes a long way".
Let's make the most of her time on the ice - and enjoy
the "Ice Godess" (as German TV named her),
whilst we still can - it may be
quite some time before we see the likes
of Pasha Grishuk, once again .
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