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}} Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya ((ロシア語:Елена Викторовна Бережная), born 11 October 1977) is a Russian former pair skater. With partner Anton Sikharulidze, she is the 1998 and 1999 World champion, 1998 Olympic silver medalist and 2002 Olympic champion. Berezhnaya first competed with Oleg Shliakhov for Latvia and won gold at the 1995 Trophée de France. While training together in January 1996, she suffered a serious injury, leaving her partly paralyzed and unable to speak. She recovered rapidly and began competing again in November 1996 with new partner, Anton Sikharulidze. Within two years of the accident, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had established themselves as one of the best pair teams in the world. During their competitive career, they were coached by Tamara Moskvina at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Ice House in Hackensack, New Jersey. Their Olympic gold medals are shared with Canadian pair Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. == Early life == Berezhnaya was born in the southern Russian town of Nevinnomyssk, her mother having moved from Voronezh and her father from beyond the Urals.〔 She has an elder brother, Alexei, and a younger one, Ivan.〔 Her parents divorced when she was five due to her father's alcoholism; her mother remarried but eventually divorced again.〔 The family also included a cousin, Nadezhda, whose parents had died.〔 Berezhnaya began skating at the age of four in Nevinnomyssk.〔 At the age of 8, she began to be coached by Nina Ruchkina, who had arrived from Moscow.〔 When Berezhnaya was 13, her coach asked her to switch from singles to pairs.〔 Ruchkina had decided that her son, Alexander Ruchkin, should be a pair skater despite not being physically suited for the discipline – and she wanted Berezhnaya, as the smallest girl, to be his partner.〔 Although Berezhnaya enjoyed watching pair skating,〔 she was skeptical of the proposed partnership but Ruchkina convinced her mother that the pair would get a chance at CSKA Moscow's skating school.〔 The coaches at CSKA also had doubts about Ruchkin's suitability but accepted the pair.〔 Berezhnaya moved to Moscow, 791 miles to the north, and lived in a dormitory as her mother could not move with her.〔〔 They made little progress as Ruchkin continued to struggle to lift her.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elena Berezhnaya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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