Alexandre Fadeev finds a balanced life

For several years after 1985 world men's champion and four-time European champion Alexandre "Sasha" Fadeev and his wife, Cydèle moved to Arlington Heights, Ill., they found themselves working six and seven days a week. He taught at as many as nine rinks, and she was the skating director in Park Ridge.

"I liked being skating director, but it was wearing me down a little bit," says Cydèle. "We hardly saw each other. We hardly took vacations together."

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"Skating's technical level was very difficult, and everybody was trying to reach this goal," he says. "Now, with the judging system, you don't have to reach that because it's not promoting that. For example, back then the quadruple meant a lot. In present day, it seems the quadruple doesn't mean anything.

"I was doing quadruples -- such as Salchow and toe loop -- and I know what it takes to even do it in a program," he adds. "It's not just physical, it's mental. It's major, major work. This is gone."

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They find life in the Midwest very much to their liking. Sasha is now a U.S. citizen and says he hasn't been back to Russia since the end of the Soviet Union.

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"Skating's technical level was very difficult, and everybody was trying to reach this goal," he says. "Now, with the judging system, you don't have to reach that because it's not promoting that. For example, back then the quadruple meant a lot. In present day, it seems the quadruple doesn't mean anything.

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