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14.02.2006 - Figure skating: Russian fairy tale finds happy ending

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Figure skating: Russian fairy tale finds happy ending

Feb 13 2006
By Jane Barrett

TURIN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - It was the fairy tale ending everybody had been waiting for.

Russian figure skating pair Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin had won almost everything there was to win, they had fought back from injury and illness, they had beaten the demons.

Finally on Monday, in their last competition together, they won Olympic gold.

"It was perfect skating to end a perfect career. I can't explain the emotions I feel right now," Totmianina said, tears welling in her eyes.

Totmianina and Marinin have been the leading force in figure skating for the last two years, filling the gap left by pairs who beat them into fourth place at the Salt Lake City Games.

However, the road has not been easy.

In October 2004, the dazzling couple soared into a high lift when suddenly Marinin lost his balance and Totmianina came crashing down and landed head-first on the ice.

The diminutive blonde remembers nothing of the blow that left her badly concussed and bruised but Marinin was racked with guilt and coach Oleg Vasiliev had to call in a sports psychologist to get him back on track.

All the pent up emotion poured out on Monday. Hardly had the pair finished their routine -- danced to music from Romeo and Juliet -- than Marinin punched the air with both fists and slapped the ice in delight.

When Totmianina skated across to him, he knelt in front of her and kissed her hands. "Everything was in that move," Marinin told reporters. "It was appreciation of what Tatiana did for me, that she trusted me, that she has been with me as part of a team all the time.

"Without her help I couldn't have done anything."

Totmianina, turning her gold medal in her hands like a precious jewel, paid equal tribute to her partner.

"I've worked with Maxim for almost 10 years," she said. "We've been through so many things -- through the difficult days and the good days.

"But we've stayed together, we've fought for each other, we've believed in each other and that's why we got this result."
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