- Joined
- May 20, 2009
And another long-forgotten good deed that Victor did, is that he was the legal guardian for Ukrainian orphan skater Oksana Baiul when she was underage and travelling outside Russia for competitions.
Crikey! What a jump combination...Yet another time when the Olympic gold medal truly went to a deserving person. Of course I was rooting for Kurt that year, being such a huge fan. But Browning's back problems hampered his performance. If this is the guy who won instead, I certainly have no complaints.
Petrenko seems like a wonderful exemplar of the classical Russian style. Doesn't it garner respect for Smievskaya as a coach?
With all the talk about Yags and Plushy we should not forget Victor came before them. And along with G&G he helped take the "e" out of "evil" for many N. American fans
I wish I could have had the privilege of getting to see him perform live.
But the skaters you mention are all RUSSIAN, and Viktor is UKRANIAN. The nationalities should not be used interchangably, and it is not clear how Russian skating was ever influenced by Ukranian skating legends like Petrenko or Smievskaya or Baiul.