Figure skating Tatyana Tarasova life stories, Olympics scandal

At the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, the dancers won the tournament Jayne Torvill and Christopher Deanthe students were on the second step of the pedestal Tatiana Tarasova Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin. Despite the fact that the British deprived the Soviet duo of gold, Tatyana Anatolyevna recognized the greatness of Torvill/Dean, especially highlighting their free dance.

“I had no doubt that Bolero by Torvill and Dean would live for decades. That their dance will become a symbol, a phenomenon of the Olympics. And so it happened”Tarasova later wrote in her book “Beauty and the Beast.”

In 1984, Torvill and Dean left amateur sports and began actively performing in shows. And after the Olympics in Calgary, where Bestemyanova/Bukin won, Tarasova received an offer to do a large-scale tour with the British – we wrote about this cooperation in the materials below. The relationship between Jane, Christopher and Tatyana Anatolyevna has always been as respectful as possible towards each other.

Shortly before the 1994 Olympics, the International Skating Union allowed professional skaters to return to amateur sports. Torvill and Dean decided to take advantage of this chance; they won the pre-Olympic European Championship. But they won “with difficulty” – due to third places, so before the Games the three favorites (Torvill/Dean, Oksana Grischuk/Evgeniy Platov, Maya Usova/Alexander Zhulin) were considered absolutely equal. The British secretary Debi asked Tarasova to come to them and sent a plane for her, Tatyana Anatolyevna agreed.

According to Tarasova, the original dance of the British (“Rumba”) was “ten heads better than the others,” the obligatory one was slightly slower, but you just had to speed up and skate a little differently.

– And the free program is one hundred percent missed. What was successful at demonstration performances or shows: in chic costumes, with a lighting score, and even with a corps de ballet that worked with them, is one thing. But here, in an empty skating rink, without special lighting, the music they chose simply didn’t excite me. Why i do not know.

They settled on a Fred Astaire dance. I suggested at least redoing the details. But, in principle, she advocated making a new dance. Drop everything, close for a week, return to music, even the same “Bolero”, and stage it, completely changing the concept. But they were afraid that there would not be enough time. I understand their fear, but I don’t accept it… And in general, a lot of things were not thought through, including the costumes. For the free dance and Rumba, the costumes were still looking good, but there are also costumes for training, those in which they are shown to the judges. We begin to “seduce” them already during training.

In short, they chose the wrong path: they began to improve the dance. In any program they have a thousand unique elements, phenomenal steps, and connections. With a duo like Torvill and Dean, God knows what you can do! But they didn’t think through the main line. We faked it, we didn’t do it.

No one knew that Tarasova was working with the British on the eve of the Olympics. As a result, the dance was redone in a few days. The champions of Sarajevo persuaded Tarasova to go with them to the Olympic Lillehammer and rented her an apartment. For the public, it was said as a legend that Tatyana Anatolyevna arrived in the capital of the Games at the request of her husband, pianist Vladimir Krainev – so she was given a pass.

“I watched the dancers during training, but never approached them. We met at their hotel, I explained what to do during training, which ones should go to, and which ones should be skipped: they were used to using any training session, even if it was scheduled for five in the morning. I argued that on the eve of such a start it is necessary to do shock training, indicative for opponents and judges, and only appear for them. But it was during such a shock training that they looked unimportant and, as luck would have it, all the judges gathered at the side. They decided to perform the entire free program, but they had to demonstrate the best passages. But I couldn’t convince them. So my plan fell through, and I really counted on it. They were too twitchy…

As a result, Torvill/Dean had a couple of glitches at the box office. After the obligatory dance, the British were third; the original one, according to tradition, turned out to be a masterpiece.

— The last number remained – free dance. But it was precisely this that they clearly lost, because Grischuk and Platov got into such physical and functional shape that although they didn’t have God knows what kind of program, they performed it boldly and coolly. The British were supposed to play on something else. I held a meeting, invited Beggy, Jane’s husband Bob, their friend and assistant to my apartment, where I announced: we need to make some extraordinary move, throw something out of the ordinary – otherwise the judges will put Chris and Jane only in third place .

Tarasova offered to return “Bolero,” which shocked absolutely everyone present.

“I gathered this English company and said: “They’ll put you third anyway, you know, there’s no chance.” A blind person can see that they won’t rank higher. In addition, this training also gave me a hint. The mood of the judges is understandable, although the Fred Astor program already looked very, very decent. But in dancing, as long as the judges’ opinion is formed in advance, even before the start, so it will be. They no longer judge by skating. That’s why I decided to give them a sharp shake-up. Let them be judged by the fresh dance, without any prior agreement. But my proposal scared them. And I still insisted on my own, proving that this was the only correct move, no matter what the result would be, it would turn out to spite the referees. Let them become third, the audience will stand up! Because the audience always gets up for Bolero, and by doing so we will create a wild scandal.

As a result, Tarasova’s proposal was accepted: according to the coach’s recollections, Torvill/Dean “went through the entire dance in one breath, they did the impossible, they skated at 6.0.” From the middle of the program, Tatyana Anatolyevna began to cry, and the audience was raging with emotions, demanding to put the British in first place.

“The hall was noisy, the hall was screaming, the hall demanded that they be put first. They stood up happy and proud, and I cried. I cried when my beloved Bestemyanova and Bukin fought. I cried for them, I felt sorry for them, and I was happy with them. I didn’t see the finale of the dance, tears blurred my eyes. Jane later told me: “I saw you cry.” I am always in awe of any athletes, people who tear their veins. And in this Olympic snatch they, of course, tore them to the end. They remained third, but still went down in history as an outstanding dance couple. And I’m glad that my life turned out to be arranged in such a way that I not only came into contact with them, but in difficult times I could even help,” wrote Tatyana Tarasova.

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